Murphy and Selby going for Berlin Glory

Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby are through to the German Masters final after winning their semi-finals in different styles yesterday. Shaun Murphy got through to the final after beating Liang Wenbo 6-4 in the semi-finals. Shaun had led 3-0 early on in the match, but as he did against Mark Allen and Ronnie O'Sullivan in the previous couple of rounds he went on to lose four frames in a row and found himself 4-3 behind. However, he was able to step it up once again and he won all of the last three frames to take the match 6-4, and along the way he had two total clearances of 141 and 145, so other than the four frames in the middle of the match he was in fine form.

Mark Selby meanwhile had things much easier against Stephen Maguire as he played well from the start of the match and in similar fashion to Shaun taking a nice 3-0 advantage, with three good breaks to start off the match. Stephen pulled one back before the break, but Mark won the next two to go one away from the match at 5-1. While Maguire won another frame it was only a consolation as Selby finished off the match for a 6-2 victory.

Final Preview:

Mark Selby Vs Shaun Murphy - This is going to be a really tough final, and I have to say I'm finding it an incredibly tight one to call. Mark Selby's momentum has been building throughout the week after he started the week with a tough decider and an elongated match against Peter Ebdon before he seemed to find his very top scoring form in the matches against Judd Trump and Stephen Maguire. That was to be expected after he came over from China just before the event and you have to say that he's looked like he's getting fresher and stronger as the week has gone on rather than becoming more tired and starting to peter out. Shaun Murphy meanwhile has been playing well all week long with good performances in all of his matches against Michael Wasley, Mark Allen, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Liang Wenbo, so both players have had some very tough matches so far. They're both going to be very confident, but especially Murphy after the season he has had so far. Both of these guys are incredibly evenly matched, even on the head to head where they are now pretty equal. Shaun won the last couple of matches in this years Masters opening round and the Haikou World Open final last year so, but Mark was on a very good run for a long period of time before that, and that may make Shaun even more determined to go on a run similar over the next 18 months.

It's almost impossible for me to call this one, but I just feel like Mark's momentum is building this season and with that should come this title.

Prediction: 9-7 to Mark Selby


Whatever the outcome I'm sure it's going to be a great final, especially judging by the matches they have had so far this week in this wonderful arena at the Tempodrome in Berlin. I'll be back in good time to look ahead to the Championship League this week with the Fantasy League.