Players Championship outright predictions and snooker betting tips: Selby has his sights set on further success
Where to watch the Players Championship
Starts 1pm Tuesday, live on Channel 5
Best bets for the Players Championship
Mark Selby
1pt 11-2 Betfair, Paddy Power
Shaun Murphy
1pt 9-1 general
Players Championship predictions
The top 16 performers on the one-year ranking list head to Telford to compete for the Players Championship and a new champion will be crowned as last year’s winner Kyren Wilson has failed to make the cut.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has opted out, which is music to the ears of John Higgins who has sneaked in despite being 17th on the one-year ranking list, and world number one Judd Trump tops the betting following his win at the German Masters earlier this month.
However, the nature of the tournament means the draw has a lopsided look to it with Trump potentially having to beat Zhou Yuelong, Mark Williams and Neil Robertson just to make the final.
Top seed Robertson has been handed a horror first-round showdown against Higgins, so the bottom half of the draw may be the place to go in search of the winner and Mark Selby’s claims look crystal clear.
The Jester from Leicester should be fully motivated to make his presence felt, given that he has yet to make the final of this event, and winning the Championship League for a third straight time in his home city last week suggested he was operating at the top of his game.
It has been a stellar season for Selby, who lifted the UK Championship in December with a 10-8 win over Trump in the final, a month after he had defeated the world number one in the Champion of Champions title decider.
Selby should have too much tactical nous for the inconsistent Jack Lisowski in his opener, while Wu Yize or Mark Allen may not be in the right frame of mind to live with the four-time world champion in the quarter-final.
A deep run is on the cards for Selby, who has won 12 of his last 16 matches, and his biggest test may stem from Shaun Murphy were they to meet in the final four.
The Magician is a big-tournament player, chasing a third success in this event, and he has held his form for virtually the whole season.
Murphy has made three ranking finals this term, winning the British Open before runner-up efforts at the Xi’an Grand Prix and the German Masters, and his performances in Berlin earlier this month were eye-catching.
The third seed was no match for Trump in the Tempodrom final but he had outclassed Allen 5-0, Wilson 5-1 and Robertson 6-1 prior to that to show that he remains at the peak of his powers.
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