Masters Snooker 2019 Preview – 16th January 2019 at 1.00 pm
This was arguably always going to be the feature match of the opening round of the 2019 Masters. That is because there appears to be a bit of a bubbling rivalry between the two players. How genuine that is remains a mystery, but when the two met last year in the semifinals, there was a truly epic encounter.
Judd Trump v Kyren Wilson Winner Odds*
Judd Trump 8/11
Kyren Wilson 11/10
* (betting odds taken from Bet365 on January 14th, 2019 at 6:17 pm)
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Twelve months ago Wilson and Trump faced off in the semifinals of the Masters. It was a massive scrap between the two as well, one of the best matches of the tournament in recent history. Trump was in the driving seat at 5-3 ahead but he couldn’t curtail the response that Wilson had in him.
Wilson won two frames on the bounce 66-0 and 111-0 to pull himself back level and then fired off a break of 72 to clinch the deciding frame. There were clear emotions displayed that day by Wilson after his epic comeback, how well it was received by his opponent is another thing. But the two get to face off against each other again and we can only hope for more of the same drama.
What you have here is basically two of the hottest young talents in the game. Both of them are bullish. Both of them like to get down and play attacking snooker. Both are also looking for their first Masters titles. Of the two, Wilson is actually the only one to have reached the final and that was of course last year at Trump’s expense. Wilson lost the 2018 Masters final against Mark Allen.
The head to head doesn’t offer us much of a picture either because there have been six wins each from the twelve previous meetings. They have both won one title each this season, Trump at the Northern Ireland Open and Wilson at the Paul Hunter Classic.
They have met this season already with Trump firing off wins in both Championship League games against Wilson. But in terms of full-on tournament meetings, it is Wilson who has won four in a row, starting with that Masters success last year.
He followed it up with a quarterfinal win at the Romanian Masters, a round of sixteen clash at the Shanghai Masters and a resounding 6-1 win over Trump when they met in the quarterfinals of the Champion of Champions of tournament. So he has some wind in his sails when it comes to meetings between the two. Will egg come out on top again?
Prediction
Hopefully, this year’s renewal is at least half as exciting as the last showdown. We are actually going to side with Wilson on in this one to come out on top again. That is because he seems to have figured out his opponent when it comes to tournament play, having won the last four in a row against him. Wilson at 11/10 odds gets our nod* (betting odds taken from Bet365 on January 14th, 2019 at 6:17 pm)
