The semi-final line-up at The Masters will be finished off on Friday evening when two former champions meet in the last quarter final at Alexandra Palace when Shaun Murphy takes on Stuart Bingham.
Murphy won this title in 2015 while Bingham got his hands on the trophy five years later. One of them will move to within two wins of lifting the Paul Hunter Trophy for a second time while the other will be watching the remainder of the event from home.
Shaun Murphy
Shaun Murphy could be forgiven for thinking that he is in a different tournament to the one he started in given that it has been more than five days since we last saw him in action. On that occasion he opened up the event by beating the defending champion Neil Robertson to cement the thought process that his form isn’t quite as bad as the results he has been getting in recent tournaments would suggest that it is.
Murphy scored very well in that first round clash and while it was pretty obvious that Robertson wasn’t at the races, ‘The Magician’ will be happy with his display. He’ll know he is going to be playing in a raucous Friday night atmosphere at Alexandra Palace so if he can get off to a good start and begin scoring heavily he should feel really good about himself. If there is a concern it remains in the safety department but this table has been one for the scorers all week.
Stuart Bingham
When you consider the form that Stuart Bingham brought to the tournament, you would have to say his win over Kyren Wilson in the first round was a real surprise. Bingham played some brilliant snooker to go 5-0 up in that match and while there was a little bit of a falling over the line nature to the way he eventually won 6-3, any win was welcome and you would imagine he will take a lot of confidence from it into this quarter final clash.
Bingham made three centuries and an 80 in that win over Wilson and while I think it should be pointed out that Wilson never truly settled in the first part of the match, some of that has to be put down to the fact that Bingham didn’t let him do so. They say that winning breeds confidence but winning in the way Bingham did certainly does and with a good start we could see him purr again in an arena he is clearly comfortable in.
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Head-to-head
These two men will be meeting for the 14th time in their careers. Shaun Murphy will begin the evening with a 7-5 lead in their past battles with them also drawing a match in the Premier League back in the day. It is Murphy who is ahead on the frame count as well leading 80-71 in that department. This will be just the second time they have met at The Masters. Bingham won their match at this stage two years ago. That was one of just two quarter finals the two have played with Murphy coming out on top in the other one. Bingham leads 2-0 in their best of 11 meetings. They have met in a world final in 2015 which Bingham won but at this stage of their career this feels like a really important match.
Betting
I think we are in for one of those close Friday night matches at The Masters here. In fairness, all of the quarter finals have been close affair and I suspect that will continue here because the players aren’t stupid. They will know that the likes of Neil Robertson, Mark Allen, Mark Selby, John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan have all bitten the dust and will know there is a massive opportunity to land one of the biggest titles in the sport over the weekend.
That makes me think that over 9.5 frames is the way to go here. Both men have sampled this atmosphere on numerous occasions so there wasn’t be any issues from that regard and you would have to say they are pretty evenly matched in terms of their game style, form and experience. I wouldn’t be completely surprised if a deciding frame is needed to separate the pair, especially if they have the form of the first round with them. 11/10 on over 9.5 frames is a little too big to me.
Tips
Back Over 9.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
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