The semi-final line-up at The Masters will be finalised on Friday night when the last of the quarter finals will be played as the last two world champions collide inside Alexandra Palace when Luca Brecel takes on Kyren Wilson.
Wilson took the world crown from Brecel but neither have won this tournament yet and only one of them will remain in with a chance of achieving that goal this year after this match has concluded so there is plenty on the line.
Luca Brecel
I always thought that this would be a stage that Luca Brecel would relish. You only had to see the flamboyance he showed when he was down to the one-table setup at the Crucible when he won the World Championship to know that he wasn’t going to wilt in this sort of arena. We also knew coming into the competition that he is highly unlikely to be here next year such has been the indifferent 18 months that he has had so that will act as further motivation to give this everything he’s got.
With that in mind, we shouldn’t be surprised to see him put on a bit of a show in the opening round against Chris Wakelin. Some of the balls he potted were absolute filth and he looked like he was timing the ball so well. We know that he is prepared to go for his shots regardless of the consequences that might come his way should he miss them but if they keep going in he will take some stopping such is the pressure he puts on his opponent.
Kyren Wilson
There is probably always that little extra pep in the step of the world champion when they walk out into an arena like this. There aren’t many players in history who have won the World Championship and then nine months later added this title to their collection but Kyren Wilson is three wins away from achieving that aim. Much like Brecel, while Wilson isn’t as flashy as the Belgian, he plays the game to play in arenas like this in front of the crowds that this tournament attracts.
Wilson was involved in one of the better matches of the tournament so far in the opening round against Zhang Anda, who more than played his part in a cracking contest. Wilson had to be close to his best to come through that and although that wasn’t reflected in the breaks, whenever he had to step it up and issue his dominance he was able to do it. He will come on from the run out and it would be foolish to expect him to underperform here.
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Head-to-head
This is one of the few matches this week where the competitors haven’t faced each other on plenty of occasions. They have still met six times and at the minute they are locked at three wins each. Wilson has won his matches slightly easier though because he leads 22-18 in the frame count. This will be the second time they have met in a quarter final with Brecel winning the previous round. They will be meeting at The Masters for the first time but they have played out two best of 11 battles with Brecel coming out on top in both of those.
Betting
I’m already on Luca Brecel to win this match as part of having backed him outright and I’m really hopeful that he can win this and take me to the edge of the each way payout so I won’t get involved in the match result but one bet which does interest me is the highest break of the match where the line is 117.5 so we need near enough a 15 red clearance for that to land and I’m not completely convinced we are going to get that here.
These two met last month in Saudi Arabia in good conditions in a match which Brecel won 4-3 but there wasn’t a century in that contest and in the 12 frames the pair made in the first round here the highest break was only 89. We have had 13 centuries in the tournament this week and eight of them have been under 117.5 with one exactly 118 . The table looks to be playing a little tricky after six days of the same cloth and Brecel uses the old chalk which opens up the potential for kicks and heavy contacts. The Friday night crowd are likely to be raucous so with the frame won I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some exhibition shots so even if a ton is made there is no guarantee it goes beyond 117.5 here. The under is 4-2 in matches between this pair so I’ll ride it again here.
Tips
Back Highest break – Under 117.5 for a 3/10 stake at 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Coral
