The evening session at The Masters on Tuesday evening could see the pick of the first round matches being played out as the former champion Neil Robertson takes on a player in Barry Hawkins who has been one win away from lifting this title himself.
Robertson comes into the week off the back of a wretched 2023, one which was so bad that his top 16 existence is under huge threat. Hawkins had a great 2023 and if that is anything to go by he’ll fancy his chances. Ronnie O’Sullivan awaits the winner in the last four.
Neil Robertson
It has certainly been a season that hasn’t got going for Neil Robertson but the last 12 months never really did in truth. His campaign to date has been so poor that he is nowhere near the Players Series events which get underway next week and if all the points came off ahead of the World Championship tomorrow, the Australian would be sat down at number 30 in the ranking so he is almost certainly going to have to qualify for the World Championship and needs a huge 2024 if he is going to be back here next year.
Of course, at his best he is plenty good enough to achieve that. We have seen that in 2012 and 2022 when he won this title. He has also made the final of the competition on two other occasions so Alexandra Palace is a place which brings out the best of him, as you would expect for such a showman. He is going to need to draw on his past here though because he has lost six of his last seven matches in all competitions, with some heavy defeats in there too.
Barry Hawkins
Barry Hawkins had a breakthrough in 2023 when he won his first title for six years when he took down the European Masters at the beginning of the season. That will have given him confidence to deliver the goods for the remainder of the campaign and it also bolstered his ranking enough to get him back into this tournament. Such has been the quality of his season so far, he will go to the World Grand Prix next week sat at number five on the rankings for this term.
Hawkins has twice been to the final of this event, including two years ago when he lost to Robertson in the concluding match. He has also reached a semi-final too so he has a decent enough recent record here, as he does at all the major venues. He is pretty local to Alexandra Palace too so this should be a match and a tournament he is looking forward to, especially with the pressure of having won a title this season already taking away a lot of the pressure which would normally be attached to a player.
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Head-to-head
One thing which will give Neil Robertson some confidence is his excellent record against Barry Hawkins. He leads their 16 meetings 12-4 and in terms of the frame count he is 100-66 ahead. Robertson has won their last six matches dating back to the China Open in 2018. The pair have met twice at The Masters with Robertson winning on both occasions and he has won all five matches the two have played at this stage of a tournament. The Australian also leads 4-0 in matches over this format so history is very much on the side of the former champion heading into the match.
Betting
I would be surprised if Neil Robertson is as bad in 2024 as he was in 2023. He spoke about needing a break and getting home to see his family which he would have had but he has never really turned up here bang on it. When he has won the event he has grown into it but I don’t think he’ll have the chance to do that here. I think it will take more than a week of work for the Australian to find his groove again and even at 4/5 I think Barry Hawkins is worthy of support here.
Hawkins has had a fine season so far, not just winning the European Masters which would have been a huge thing for him, but also reaching the semi-final in Northern Ireland and at the Champion of Champions where he run into Judd Trump on both occasions when he was in the middle of that very hot spell of his. Hawkins has been winning a lot of matches this season but the same can’t be said of Robertson who has lost six of his last seven. I’m sure 2024 will be a more positive year for the Aussie but he might need to wait for another chance as I see Hawkins winning this.
Tips
Back B.Hawkins to beat N.Robertson for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Boylesports
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