We move into the bottom half of the draw in the Tour Championship on Wednesday when two men who have both won big titles in the last six weeks meet in the third quarter final when Shaun Murphy takes on Robert Milkins.
This match will be a repeat of the Welsh Open which the two battled it out for that title in. Milkins won that day and will be looking to pick up another win over Murphy, but ‘The Magician’ has kicked on since then which should make for a great game.
Shaun Murphy
This looked like being a season of near misses for Shaun Murphy when he kept on running into monster performances in the opening half of it. Murphy was under pressure going into the campaign because his world final points are coming off his ranking next month and with each huge display he was running into that intensity was growing. To his credit, he didn’t panic and kept his form strong and then peaked at the Players Championship the week after losing out to Milkins in the Welsh Open final.
Murphy dominated and destroyed all before him to win that Players Championship which has as good as replaced the majority of the money which comes off his ranking next month. Further wins from here will only serve to assist with that. This will be just the second time that Murphy competes in this tournament. He qualified in 2020 but lost out in the quarter final in a deciding frame against Mark Allen so the 2005 world champion goes in search of a first win in the event here.
Robert Milkins
Ever since Robert Milkins won the Gibraltar Open last season there has been a real freeing up in his game and he has made the most of that this term. He had knocked on the door of doubling his title tally throughout the campaign, particularly the German Masters where he made a 147 on his way to a deciding frame defeat in the semi-final. He then went to the Welsh Open and played the best snooker on the week to win the biggest title of his career to date.
The impressive thing about Milkins that week was how he handled himself under pretty strong external pressure in that final. He was playing for life changing money for him and it was visible what it meant to him the longer that week went on, so for him to cope with that and still beat Murphy should be very encouraging. This is his tournament debut though and although he’s been around for ages he still isn’t completely experienced in these one-table environments so you feel he needs a good start here.
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 13 previous occasions and it is Shaun Murphy who has the lead but it is only a narrow one at seven wins to six. One indication of how close the two men have been in their past battles is the fact that they have both won 52 frames. That suggests the Milkins wins are slightly more comfortable than the Murphy ones. Their last meeting was in the Welsh Open final which Milkins won 9-7 but Murphy will take comfort from the fact he has won both of their previous quarter finals. It is Milkins who has won both of their two session matches though.
Betting
I understand why Shaun Murphy is the favourite for this match but the head-to-head between the two men will tell us that this could go either way. If the Murphy that won the Players Championship shows up here then Robert Milkins is bang in trouble but players only have that level with them once a season generally and often it isn’t that. I don’t expect Murphy to be as good as he was there and then it becomes a case of how close to the Welsh Open form Milkins has with him.
I would imagine that at this stage of his career this is a bonus for Milkins. If you had told him 12 months ago he would be in a tournament of this magnitude I doubt he would have believed you so anything from here is a free roll, especially as he has already secured his qualification for the World Championship. I’m not sure if Milkins will get over the line in an environment like this but with a good start he can certainly ask questions of Murphy. With a 2.5 frame start I’ll go with the Milkman here.
Tips
Back R.Milkins (+2.5 frames) to beat S.Murphy for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betway
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2023
