The last two quarter finals at The Masters take place over the course of Friday with the afternoon contest seeing the defending champion Judd Trump looking to make it back into the final four when he meets Ali Carter inside Alexandra Palace.
Both men came through against quality opposition in the first round and will know they are just three wins away from claiming the second Triple Crown event of the season which should make for a competitive affair here.
Judd Trump
Judd Trump came through against Kyren Wilson in the opening match but he might be wondering how his title defence is still alive because after Wilson had closed in from 5-3 down to force a deciding frame, he got in first in the decider and looked like he was going to clear up but he missed with match ball approaching and to be fair to Trump when his chance came he gobbled it up and you wonder if he’ll look back now.
The one thing that Trump has become adept at doing in recent times is winning when he doesn’t play well. On one hand that is a good thing to fall back on but on the other hand he is starting to not play near his best too often so he will certainly want that to change. We know at his best he is one of the best in the game, if not the best, but he won’t want to grind his way to the title. He will want to flow a little at some point this week.
Ali Carter
Ali Carter was playing in The Masters for the first time in four years when he took on Mark Williams on Monday night. The last time he played in the event he reached the final and based on the performance he gave in that match he could well be playing in the final again at the weekend. Williams was in good form going into the game but Carter hung with him in the early stages and then the longer it went on he was able to pull clear.
The one thing we know about Carter is he never goes down without a fight and he has a good all-round game so he will probably know how to play Trump here but then it comes down to whether he can take his chances. There is no doubt that Carter is playing the best snooker of his career at present so he will really fancy the job here and if he can score like he has done in the last 12 months he could be a real danger to Trump.
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Head-to-head
These two men have met on 12 previous occasions and incredibly their head-to-head record is locked at six wins each however when you look at the frame count Judd Trump has a 64-56 advantage so when Trump wins it tends to be by a more comfortable margin. This will be their second quarter final in their career with Trump winning the previous one. They meet at The Masters for the first time but they have faced each other in three best of 11 frame matches in the past where Carter has a 2-1 edge over Trump. History suggests there isn’t a lot between these two.
Betting
I think we are in for a tight quarter final here. These two played the Wuhan Open which after 10 frames was locked at 5-5 earlier this season and in their meeting before then they played out a deciding frame in the Players Championship last term so generally in recent times when they meet they combine for a close match. Given what is at stake and the magnitude of this tournament I’m not expecting any different here either.
I don’t think Trump is at his very best which will give Carter a chance in this match but even with Trump not playing his best his B game is still good enough to keep him competitive and we’ve seen the table just start to play a little tougher which might make the frames a little scrappier which would suit a tighter match. Both men had to go beyond 9.5 frames in their first round matches and I think the 5/4 that they do so again is a little big to ignore.
Tips
Back Over 9.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with BetVictor
