The evening match at The Masters on Monday sees another former champion getting a new campaign underway when Mark Williams goes up against a player in Ali Carter who will be looking for a first title at Alexandra Palace.
Williams made the final here a year ago and will be looking to go one better this week while Carter had a very profitable 2023 and will be aiming to start 2024 in a similar fashion so we could be in for another excellent match here.
Mark Williams
I think many are expecting the ‘Class of 92’ to begin to fade from the top end of the game but there is certainly no sign of that as far as Mark Williams is concerned. If anything he has played some of his best snooker over the last couple of years and in 2023 alone he made the final of this tournament and won the British Open and in Macau recently. We know Williams is clever but he is scoring well these days and should be considered a threat any time he enters a tournament.
Williams has won this tournament on two previous occasions and made another two finals, including the one last year. He has been given some tremendous ovations in this arena and has spoken about how it inspires him and nothing is likely to change in that regard here. Williams arrives in London off the back of that win in Macau just after Christmas so he appears to be in decent touch and it feels like he’ll be hard to beat here.
Ali Carter
Ali Carter is yet to get his hands on silverware this season but he was one game away at the Wuhan Open when he ran into Judd Trump in the middle of his winning spell in the final. Stuart Bingham and Mark Allen were among his victims in that tournament. He also made the title match in the first of the events in Macau and has been competing in the Championship League last week so he definitely arrives at Alexandra Palace with his cue arm nicely oiled.
Carter has missed The Masters in four of the last five years and the last three in total. The last time he qualified for the tournament he went all the way to the final before he was denied a maiden Triple Crown title by Stuart Bingham. Carter should be inspired by his return to the tournament and he comes back playing some of the best snooker he has played consistently and if he can come through this match he should fancy his chances of a really deep run.
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Head-to-head
As you would imagine given how long these two have been around the top of the game for, they have met on 20 previous occasions with Mark Williams having a 13-7 lead in those games. His edge is further advanced in the frame count though where he leads 87-68, which suggests when he wins he tends to do it well. This will be just their second meeting at The Masters with Williams winning their previous encounter in the tournament. He also leads 4-2 in the past matches at this stage of a competition. Williams has also won all three of their best of 11 battles and their last three encounters in any tournament. History sides with the Welshman here.
Betting
I would be surprised if this is a match where one player runs away with it. Both men come into the tournament in good form and having played since Christmas so there won’t be any rust which was an issue with one or two players on Sunday. Williams has won in Macau just over a week ago while Carter has been competing in the Championship League last week and played the second group where he had some good wins to boost his confidence.
This isn’t a match where we have a debutant who might need a few frames to get settled in what is one of the best arenas to play in. Both men have won in some of the biggest and better venues on the tour so I think we will see two players playing something close to their best stuff. I would still expect Williams to come out on top in that situation but the one thing we know about Carter is he never gives up without a fight. This feels like a 6-4 or 6-5 either way match to me.
Tips
Back Over 9.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
