The second semi-final of the Tour Championship takes place inside the Bonus Arena in Hull on Saturday when Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy go at it over the best of 19 frames for the right to take on Kyren Wilson in the final.
These two men are certainly no strangers to each other and both have picked up a title in the last month or so which means they will go into this semi-final fully believing that they will get over the line for a pre-Sheffield boost.
Mark Selby
Mark Selby went into this tournament as the favourite to win it. He was that for a couple of reasons. He seems to relish these multi-session matches given his record in major finals and at the World Championship and also because he was the last man in the field to win a title having taken down the WST Classic a week ago. He showed all of the confidence he has picked up from that in his opening game against a Ryan Day who made a maximum break and a 16 red total clearance against him.
To beat him 10-7 highlights just how well Selby is playing at the minute. I referenced the high level of snooker he played on the final day of the WST Classic earlier in the week and he mentioned how that gave him confidence. The one thing we know about Selby is he is the master of working out these long matches but here comes a big test. He has never made the final of an ITV tournament. That is just a weird fact but one he’ll be eager to end here.
Shaun Murphy
I think it is fair to say that Shaun Murphy arrived at this tournament under a serious weight of expectation after what he delivered at the Players Championship last month. He was never going to live up to that standard again so it was really all about how close to that level of play he could be, with the obvious fact being the closer to it he is the better his chances are of doing what Neil Robertson did a year ago in winning the Players Championship and then the Tour Championship.
He wasn’t really that close to that level in the opening match against Robert Milkins. In fact, at 5-1 down it looked as though his stay at the Tour Championship would be a short lived one. To his credit, Murphy got himself back into the match and towards the end offered up something like the form he had in Wolverhampton. I don’t think it is pushing it at all to suggest he is going to need to be closer again to that Players Championship level to come through this one.
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Head-to-head
This will be meeting number 32 between these two fine ambassadors of the game. Selby has a 17-13 advantage from their past battles and there has been a draw in that time. His advantage is reflected on the frame count where Selby leads 154-141. They have played seven previous semi-finals in the past. Selby has a 5-2 advantage in those matches. Selby also leads 4-1 in their multi-session matches which include two wins at the one-table setup at the World Championship. This will be their first meeting at the Tour Championship and Murphy won their last meeting at the Players Championship earlier in the season.
Betting
I think a lot of that historical information between these two is relevant here. I don’t think the Shaun Murphy win over Mark Selby in the Players Championship is worth too much because Selby didn’t look himself that week. It is clear he is in a much better place at the minute. I just think Murphy matches up so badly to Selby because he really has to get near enough everything that he goes for and is going to have to take risks from distance and nobody can get them all.
Selby has the patience to keep trapping players and while Murphy will pot his way out of the traps at times I just don’t see him doing it over the full 19 frames here. The key thing for Selby is that he is scoring because there is no point making Murphy take risks if he doesn’t punish the misses he receives. Selby made five 50s and two tons against Day in the first round to build on his good scoring on the final day of the WST Classic. I think he’ll just have too much all-round for Murphy.
Tips
Back M.Selby to beat S.Murphy for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfair
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