It is quarter final day at the World Grand Prix on Friday with all four matches being played out across another two sessions of play out in Hong Kong as the eight remaining men become four with the huge first prize in sight for everyone who remains in the event at the end of the day.
Six of the eight players left in the tournament have won a title this season while the other two are winners of events in the past so the quality is high and now that the format goes up to the best of nine the standard should match it.
Early Session
Shaun Murphy vs John Higgins
The pick of the quarter finals will be the match on the main table in the first session of the day as The Masters winner Shaun Murphy, under pressure to max out his week from a ranking point of view, takes on the champion of the World Open last week in John Higgins.
Higgins is clearly in a rich vein of form right now, and having been to the final of the British Open earlier in the season this form level isn’t a new thing, but he has played a lot of top level snooker in the last week or two and you do wonder if he can keep on going to the well. Even if he can though there is no guarantee he will beat Murphy. Murphy is under pressure here because he is about to lose a lot of ranking points over the remainder of the month and he has a great chance to get a number of them back here but he probably wouldn’t be perceived as the favourite given the recent form of Higgins so he can play with that freedom on his side. He looked like a man struggling as a favourite in the opening two rounds but I think the different dynamic and the longer format will bring out his better snooker here. Although Higgins won the World Open last week, he was 4-2 down in one of the best of nine frames matches and 5-3 down in the best of 11 semi-final. If Murphy gets into that sort of position I think he will convert.
Xiao Guodong vs Neil Robertson
Two more men who have won a tournament this season will be meeting on the other table in the first session when the Wuhan Open winner Xiao Guodong will look to continue his fine campaign when he goes up against the man who lifted the English Open trophy in the form of Neil Robertson.
Guodong might be up against it here. Not only is he facing a top class opponent but he has had the schedule go against him because he finished after well after 1am local time on Thursday and he’ll be back on the baize at 1pm on Friday and so that is a big ask and when you consider Robertson hasn’t really been tested this week he has to be considered a warm favourite for this match. I hope he justifies that tag because he is my one remaining outright bet this week and I’m hoping that he can take us closer to a payout with a victory in this match.
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Later Session
Judd Trump vs Hossein Vafaei
Two men who had very different routes into this quarter final meet in the main game in the later session when Judd Trump, recipient of a bye on Thursday, takes on a Hossein Vafaei who had to face match ball and come from 50 down in the deciding frame to see off Xu Si.
I’m beginning to wonder whether Vafaei has his name on this trophy. He wasn’t in the field until Ronnie O’Sullivan pulled out and then he had a monster fluke to go 2-2 with Si Jiahui who was all over him throughout their first round meeting but couldn’t put him away and then Xu Si missed match ball brown against him and coughed up a 50 lead in the deciding frame of their second round match. Trump has only had one match this week and while he wasn’t at his best against Gary Wilson he did enough to get the job done. It is hard to judge how Trump is playing given that he missed the Welsh Open last month and with the genie seemingly on the shoulder of Vafaei I’ll gladly leave this one alone.
Stuart Bingham vs Mark Selby
Two former world champions meet on the other table in the later session when Stuart Bingham looks to continue what has been a fine week for him so far when he goes up against the British Open and Welsh Open winner Mark Selby.
Selby has had to come through a couple of battles so far this week but that seems to be the way he likes it. Bingham has had a much smoother time of it against two classy opponents in Mark Williams and Wu Yize and he knows he can beat Selby because he has done it before. There is just something about Selby that makes me think he will get the job done here but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if this one turns into a real battle like so many of Selby’s matches do. Bingham can be a clever safety player so this could quickly turn scrappy and I don’t really want to be involved in a game of that type.
Tips
Back S.Murphy to beat J.Higgins for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
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