The last snooker match of 2020 takes place on Sunday when Judd Trump meets Jack Lisowski to round off a very different year in the final of the World Grand Prix inside the behind closed doors setup of the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
£100,000 will act as a nice Christmas present for the winner of a match which sees two friends going up against each other over the course of the best of 19 frames across two sessions of play to determine the champion of what has been a great week of snooker.
Judd Trump
The world number one has been living up to that billing all season but arguably never more so than this week. He has seen off some strong challenges and while he probably should have been beaten by Stuart Bingham in the second round, he hasn’t looked back since, dropping just three frames in his quarter final win over Martin Gould and his semi-final victory against Ronnie O’Sullivan. Those are results which highlight how well he is going.
The scoring power of Trump is always noticed and highlighted and rightly so because it is great to watch and he’s up there with the best that has ever lived in that department of the game, however in many ways it is his safety which has really cut him apart from the rest. That used to be a weakness but we saw against O’Sullivan just how good he has become on that side of the game. The Rocket just couldn’t get a look in and if Trump’s safety is that good here he will have a huge chance of winning.
Jack Lisowski
This is a big day for Jack Lisowski. Whenever Lisowski makes the final of a competition it is going to be a big day because this is a man with insane talent at his disposal who should be a regular tournament winner given how easy he makes the game look. You get the feeling that once he gets over the line once he will do it plenty of times so if he can win here it could set up a huge 2021 for the man known as ‘Jackpot’.
I’ve been really impressed with Lisowski this week. I noted last week when previewing the Scottish Open that he was coming back into form but what I’ve noticed in this tournament is he is just giving himself an extra second or two around the table instead of rushing into shots and not thinking about his work. That has been highlighted with wins over Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby on his way to this stage. His scoring is his strength but he beat Selby in some safety exchanges which was encouraging.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Head to Head
If you take away the Championship League these two have met on 12 previous occasions with Trump coming out on top in seven of those meetings to the five of Lisowski. It is much more emphatic for Trump in the frame count department though where he leads 46-34 which suggests that his wins are much more comfortable than the ones that Lisowski gets. This will be the first time they have met in a final which brings a different dynamic to it as they have never met over longer than 11 frames. Trump has won their last two meetings, the latest of which was in the Players Championship quarter final last year when the world number one got home in a deciding frame.
Betting
This should be a cracking final to watch because I don’t think both are going to look to keep it tight and eek their way to victory. They will both like to get the balls hoping and clear them up so I’m expecting to see a lot of big breaks and given the regularity in which centuries come about these days anyway in this sanitised setup, let alone the strength of scoring that these two have, I’m surprised we can get even money on over 3.5 centuries.
Lisowski has scored like a dream since the opening round with five centuries in his three matches and chances for a couple more. Trump is the best scorer in the game right now in terms of his century rate and if he is bang on his game and wins this final he could easily make four tons himself. Whether Trump makes them all or Lisowski chips in like he should I expect them to combine for at least four tons.
Tips
Back Over 3.5 centuries for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
