The penultimate match in the first round of The Masters takes place on Wednesday afternoon when the former champion Judd Trump takes on the British Open winner Ryan Day for a shot at Barry Hawkins in the last eight.
Trump is a regular here but will know his record at Alexandra Palace has plenty of room for improvement. Day has been here before but this will be his first appearance since 2019 and he will be looking to make the most of it.
Judd Trump
Usually whenever Judd Trump turns up to The Masters he has got a trophy under his belt for the season but that isn’t the case this term and that might add a little bit of pressure to him here, although at the same time it could take a bit of the pressure off because there is slightly less expectation on him. Trump made the final of the Champion of Champions earlier in the season but in ranking events he hasn’t been past the quarter final which suggests his game isn’t in perfect shape.
Trump won this tournament in 2019 to complete his personal Triple Crown career but that is the only time in 11 attempts that he has made the final and that is quite a poor record for someone with his talent. His record in the three Triple Crown events overall leaves something to be desired so he’ll be keen to go well this week. Trump did make the semi-final here last year but couldn’t get the better of Barry Hawkins in the last four.
Ryan Day
Whatever happens for the remainder of the season this will have been a good campaign for Ryan Day after he landed a prestigious title at the British Open. Anytime a player wins a big tournament in a season that is a good term so in many ways the Welshman can play with a bit of freedom for the remainder of the campaign, which should make him a dangerous animal. Winning that British Open has opened the door for him to compete in events like this and he’ll be keen to show he isn’t making up the numbers.
Day has reached the quarter final on his last three trips to Alexandra Palace and when you consider he will have been the lower ranked player in each of his first round matches that is no mean effort. He beat John Higgins in the first round here in his last visit in 2019 before losing to Ronnie O’Sullivan so he knows he can take care of the big guns on this, one of the biggest stages in the game. Day has the potential to be dangerous here.
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Head-to-head
These two men have met on eight previous occasions and it is probably no surprise that Judd Trump has come out on top in six of those to the two of Ryan Day. Trump’s advantage in this battle is highlighted better in the frame count where he leads 36-21 which is quite some gap. This will be the first time they meet at Alexandra Palace and Day won’t need reminding of their only meeting over the best of 11 frames. That came in the 2021 Champion of Champions which Trump won 6-0 with Day scoring just 81 points in total. Trump has won the last four meetings between the two.
Betting
Judd Trump might have the better of these two historically but there wasn’t much in the first part of the season that suggested that he is entitled to be such a huge favourite against Ryan Day here. I probably wouldn’t have given Day much hope if this was his debut here but he has been here a few times now and has wins over John Higgins and Ding Junhui to his name at this venue. We know at his best that Day can beat anyone. He showed that at the British Open where he beat Mark Allen in the final.
I’m not sure whether Day will come out on top here but I certainly think he can stick with Trump. I always think that Trump feels a little burden to entertain here and sometimes that leads to him making mistakes. We’ve seen all week that these are scoring conditions and Day scores as well as anyone so if his long game can get him in then I think he can reach four frames if the not six he will be wanting to get over the course of the day.
Tips
Back R.Day (+2.5 frames) to beat J.Trump for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with BetVictor
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