The second quarter final takes place at The Masters on Thursday evening when two exciting players battle it out for a spot in the semi-final on Saturday when Shaun Murphy goes up against Jack Lisowski.
These two men are two of the more watchable players in the game with the winner looking to set up a date with Ronnie O’Sullivan in what would be a tasty semi-final of the latest Triple Crown event at the weekend.
Shaun Murphy
Shaun Murphy arrived at this tournament having spoken of the amount of work he had put in over the Christmas period and there was certainly evidence of that in his win over Zhang Anda in the opening round. You can always tell when a player has put the work in because they make the pressure clearances that change the path of a match and that is exactly what Murphy did against the Chinese ace. He’ll need plenty more of that again here.
I’m still not convinced by Murphy working for BBC the day before he plays a match. He swears it makes no difference but his recent record in the Triple Crown events would suggest otherwise. The one thing Murphy is going to need to do is score strongly in this match. He has a habit of scoring 50s and 60s but he’ll need to put his man away in one visit more often than not if he is going to come out on top in this one.
Jack Lisowski
It is easy to forget but Jack Lisowski was a very comfortable winner in the opening match of this tournament, which continued the good form that he showed in Macau just after Christmas. He has suddenly found a huge burst of scoring power and if he keeps on scoring like he has been doing in recent weeks then he will feel extremely confident about emulating his run to the semi-final here last year and hopefully go a couple of steps further.
Lisowski hasn’t had a brilliant season by his standards but the run to the final in Macau and then a win over the world champion is a good way of starting to turn things around. If he keeps playing the way that he did in the first round then he has every chance of coming through here. He is getting better all the time in these elite setups and you sense it is only a matter of time before his major breakthrough takes place.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for this tournament! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Head-to-head
These two men have met on eight previous occasions with Shaun Murphy holding a 5-3 lead over Jack Lisowski but the latter has won the last three matches between the two. Murphy leads 32-25 in the frame count. They have met in three previous quarter final of events and Murphy holds a 2-1 advantage in those but this will be the first time they have ever met at The Masters. They have met three times over the best of 11 frames and Murphy has also won two of those to the one of Lisowski as well.
Betting
Shaun Murphy had the better of this matchup when it started but Jack Lisowski looks like he has cracked the code. He has won their last three meetings which included an absolute demolition job in the UK Championship last season and while he needed Murphy to miss frame ball against him in the British Open earlier this term, the Lisowski dish to win the decider is one of the best that you’ll ever see. I would expect Lisowski to take a lot of confidence from that win.
Lisowski has made six centuries in his last two matches against Murphy so there is clearly something about playing him that brings out his best. To be fair he probably knows he is going to get chances because Murphy isn’t watertight with his safety. I thought Murphy played fine in the opening round but he fed on Zhang Anda misses and I’m not convinced Lisowski will be as forthcoming here. Lisowski looks like he’s found a groove over the last couple of weeks and I think he will win this.
Tips
Back J.Lisowski to beat S.Murphy for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
