The first trophy of 2023 will be lifted in the snooker world on Sunday when Judd Trump takes on Mark Williams in the final of The Masters inside Alexandra Palace on what is one of the showpiece occasions for the game.
These two men have both won this title in the past so one of them will be adding another Triple Crown prize to their glittering CV. It will be a second Masters title for Trump while Williams will win it for the third time.
Judd Trump
The way Judd Trump has played this week it is almost incredible that he is in the final of this tournament but he is and that means he has another chance to find his best form. It felt like he was there for the taking in the opening two rounds and both Ryan Day and Barry Hawkins set up the chance to get rid of him but neither were able to complete the job and that might just have freed up the ‘Ace in the Pack’ to play without pressure.
You can always tell on the form of Trump by the scoring he puts together and so far in the tournament he has struggled in that department with just five breaks over 60 throughout the entire event. You would think he is going to need to score well in this final if he is to win it as it is unlikely that he is going to win too many safety battles regardless of how much his tactical game has improved. It is hard to believe he’ll continue to play as badly though.
Mark Williams
It doesn’t always ring true that the player of the tournament makes it through to the final but he has here because Mark Williams has looked in excellent touch. There is all this noise about him not practicing as much as he did in his prime but what nobody is mentioning is that he doesn’t need to practice that long at this stage in his career. He clearly does enough to be more than competitive at this level and the reward is he goes in search of a third Masters title, 20 years after the last time he won this tournament.
Williams has scored brilliantly well all week. He started the tournament with a pair of centuries in his opening win and then put in two more in his standout victory against Mark Williams in the quarter final before producing a match play masterclass on Jack Lisowski in the semi-final where he came through 6-0 having completely shackled his exciting young opponent. That tactical nous combined with elite level scoring will make the Welshman hard to beat.
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Head-to-head
These two men have faced off on 17 previous occasions with Judd Trump leading the way with 11 wins to the six which Williams has achieved. He is only ahead 72-64 in the frame count though so those victories must be tight ones. Incredibly this will be their first meeting at The Masters given how long they have both been at the top of the game. It will also be the first time they have met in a final of any kind. This will be their first meeting over the best of 19 frames but they have played two multiple session matches in the past. Trump won both in a deciding frame.
Betting
I am in a good position going into this final because I have backed Mark Williams outright at 20/1 so I’m effectively on him at that price to win this match. I’m not going to go against him now because I think he has been the best player this week and if there is any justice he will win the title now and convert the place money which we are guaranteed into the full dough. I will go with one bet for the final though which comes in the total frames market.
History will tell us that matches between these two are usually quite close but that isn’t actually the case in finals of The Masters. The line here is 16.5 frames and eight of the last 12 have gone under that total with two others having 17. Generally this is a match that someone gets out in front early and then the pressure of the occasion gets to the one who is behind and he struggles to cope. Should Williams get in front early here he could gallop away from a Trump who isn’t playing well but at the same time if the occasion is a bit much for Williams at this stage of his career Trump could get in front early and ride the lead like we saw both men do in the semi-final. I think the under is the way to go here.
Tips
Back Under 16.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
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