It's time for finals weekend at the Ally Pally in this years Masters and as always it's a fantastic line-up we have for the semi-finals as the standard continues to get better in this tournament, and I expect the two games to be just as exciting as some of the ones that have gone before. Ronnie O'Sullivan and Neil Robertson were the first two players through to the last 4 on Thursday, as Ronnie broke Stephen Hendry's centuries record on the way to thrashing a poor Marco Fu, while Neil Robertson played some sublime snooker that Ali Carter could really do nothing about as the Australian laid down a marker for the other players. On Friday things were much closer when Mark Allen took on Joe Perry in a match that was very poor for the first seven frames, and after a good break from Perry to make it 4-4 Allen eventually stepped up and played better in the final two frames to secure victory, in a match where he was just pleased to still be in the tournament. He'll now take on Shaun Murphy who played some magnificent snooker in a brilliant match with Stephen Maguire who played very well himself, but in the end it was Murphy who made less little errors in amongst the balls as he made two centuries in getting through a tight one there.
Quarter-Final Results:
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1 Marco Fu
Neil Robertson 6-1 Ali Carter
Mark Allen 6-4 Joe Perry
Shaun Murphy 6-4 Stephen Maguire
As I say it's now a superb line-up with 4 players who've played some great snooker at some stage of their Masters campaign so far, and it's very tough to go ahead and pick an overall winner of the tournament from here, never mind a winner of the two semi-finals. The crowds in London have been fantastic this week so far, and they will be treated to some more brilliance looking at the matches we have to come and it's very much going to be a case of sitting back and enjoying the action. Here's what I think we can expect in the semi's:
SEMI-FINAL PREVIEW
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Neil Robertson - Ronnie O'Sullivan looked a little shaky at times towards the end of his first round match against Ricky Walden he's still been playing pretty close to his brilliant best, though this match against Neil Robertson will be a big test. I thought that Marco might put up a fight on Thursday but instead it didn't turn out that way and he was totally rolled over by O'Sullivan, though Ronnie did say after his match against Ricky that his levels aren't as good as they were 18 months ago, and I think he's beginning to accept that he can't play flawless snooker all of the time unless he enters more tournaments. However, Ronnie is on a winning streak the stretches back through this tournament, the German Masters qualifiers, UK Championship and Champion of Champions to his last defeat on the 30th October against Mark Williams in the International Championship so he's still very much the man to beat at the moment and an incredibly tough scalp to get. Neil Robertson is one of the very few players that can beat O'Sullivan if he plays at his very best, and he did exactly that against Ali Carter with granite safety, and great break building and overall potting. However, coming out and playing like that against Ronnie is a totally different ball game and you feel that Neil probably won't come out with the same approach, though if he gets his chances I expect him to take them and it's going to be a very close game this afternoon I'm sure. Winning runs are always there to be broken, but it's going to be a tough ask for anyone to go out there and do that if they can't play confident snooker against Ronnie and play him like they would any other player which is one of the most frustrating things. Neil can obviously win this game, but he has to decide which approach is going to win him this game and go with it, playing to his strengths rather than any weakness Ronnie shows.
Prediction: 6-3 win for O'Sullivan
Mark Allen Vs Shaun Murphy - These two players are great friends away from the table, but friendship will go out of the window for the pair as they step out into the arena for this semi-final. The first thing to point out here is that neither player has won a Masters title and between them they've only been to one final which was Murphy's 2012 final where he was dominated by Neil Robertson. That means, if this goes close as I expect it to, the pressure and nerves are going to be enormous and tough for either player to deal with. Both players have had to see off close games in this tournament with Allen having to take his chances when they presented themselves against John Higgins and battle hard to see off Joe Perry, showing that the two components he needs to win the tight matches are there. Shaun meanwhile is the only player in the event who has had to come through a deciding frame, so it's always nice to have that under your belt and he showed plenty of bottle in that match with Selby having watched his substantial lead evaporate. Against Stephen Maguire though his long potting was pretty solid again, his safety wasn't too bad and he showed that he was able to win the tight frames, as he did against Selby, as well as making the big breaks with a couple of centuries in a brilliant display against Maguire who was playing just as well. The match could easily come down to which one of the players misses less crucial balls or makes less positional mistakes, or simply one player pushing the boat out too often as I think we're looking at what is going to be another very open game in this semi-final, just as it was when the pair last met in the World Open semi's in March with Murphy winning 6-4 and going on to take the title. Again it's such a tough match to call, and could well go to a decider, and I expect both to produce, because if one player doesn't it will be a romp.
Prediction: A 6-4 victory for Shaun Murphy
As I say it's two brilliant matches we have in store now between four great players, any of whom could step up and take the title on Sunday night. I'll hopefully be back at the same time tomorrow to talk you through my expectations from the final two and to try and predict a winner for the final.
No comments:
Post a Comment