The quarter-finals of the Masters begin on Thursday. James Cooper has taken a look at both matches and recommends two bets.
Snooker betting tips: Masters quarter-finals
1pt John Higgins to beat Zhao Xintong at 6/4 (General)
1pt Over 9.5 frames Judd Trump vs Mark Allen at 21/20 (Coral, Ladbrokes)
The great Steve Davis made reference before a ball was potted on Sunday to the fact that such is the standard of the elite players these days, we are seeing more and more one-frame winning visits and a by-product of that is an increase in one-sided contests.
Coupled with the forgiving pockets early in tournaments (the top cushion has played particularly generous so far this week), the first pot in a frame becomes increasingly impactful and a 30-45 minute blast of excellence can break the back of these best-of-11 frame matches.
A septet of 6-2 scores in the opening round rather hammers that point home in what, in truth, has been a fairly disappointing start to this year’s Masters from a viewing perspective.
Higgins backed to take down world champ
The longevity of John Higgins continues to astound.
It’s 26 unbroken appearances and 20 years since he produced one of the all-time great clearances to defeat Ronnie O’Sullivan in a decider and double his tally of Masters titles.
The Wizard of Wishaw hasn’t added to that since and for one of his standing, his Alexandra Palace record is a modest one.
Higgins snapped a run of three first-round exits against Barry Hawkins on Tuesday evening, a trademark dish to pinch the third frame and six fifty-plus breaks allowing the Scot to gain a stranglehold in most of the frames.
His long potting was superb and it will need to be again taking on world champion Zhao Xintong.
Xintong reportedly flew in the day before Monday’s clash with Gary Wilson and he showed glimpses of his brilliant best when recovering from a first-frame reversal to lead 4-1.
There were several errors along the way though, and 6-2 flattered Xintong overall, Wilson ruing several missed chances to close the gap to 4-3.
Seasonal winning percentages stand at 67.6% for Higgins and 65.6% for Xintong, and Higgins leads the head-to-head 7-4, though that may not be especially relevant given the rate of Xintong’s progress of late.
In terms of match odds, Xintong deserves to be favourite, though 4/7 looks too short in a best-of-11 affair, and HIGGINS represents a touch of value at the general 6/4 with a frame-by-frame assessment of his chance suggesting 11/8+ as worthy of investment.
Trump versus Allen one for the stayers
A polite way to describe the Mark Allen versus Mark Williams clash was a game for the purists.
By his own admission Williams was “poor” and he made it too easy for Allen to get over the line in frames, which started at a pedestrian pace before Allen gained some rhythm after the mid-session interval.
Allen seems fairly content with his more calculated approach to the game these days and to be fair, he’s won more than the odd match this season by sticking to his task when well behind.
From the outside, it does seem to place an undue amount of physical and mental energy and while that way of playing may be a bridge too far at Sheffield in the spring, this shorter format this week may help in that regard.
Tuesday’s success means that Allen’s win percentage for the season surpassed the 70% mark, which is hard to crab and a positive “wins over expected” confirms his current game is in good order.
Having referenced the favourable conditions for scoring, the centuries haven’t exactly been flying in but Judd Trump has contributed to a third of the nine tons so far in a convincing win over Ding Junhui.
Having reduced his arrears to 3-2, Ding was denied a sniff in the final three frames and re-united with his old cue, the signs look very good for the world number one in his quest for a third Masters crown.
The pair have enjoyed some memorable matches down the years featuring more than their share of deciders, including in finals.
Allen leads the head-to-head record 19-15 and swimming against the tide so far this week, odds-against quotes on OVER 9.5 FRAMES looks appealing given it’s a shade of odds-on with me.
Posted at 21:00 GMT on 14/01/26
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