Robertson can repeat Murphy win to reach another Masters final

Neil Robertson’s quest to become just the fourth player to win successive Masters title is still alive and he should be backed at 8/13 to win his semi-final with Shaun Murphy.

The clash is a repeat of the final from last year at the Masters, with Robertson coming out on top with a 10-6 triumph.

In fact, he has won all of his last three showdowns with Murphy, including a 9-5 victory in the semi finals of the International Championship as recently as November.

This indicates that Robertson has enjoyed a degree of comfort in his past matches with Murphy, but this is not true of his passage to the last four at Alexandra Palace.

Robertson has arguably played the best snooker at the event thus far, but has required final-frame deciders to advance past Ding Junhui and then Mark Allen.

Meanwhile, Murphy has reached this stage with a 6-4 triumph over Ricky Walden and then a 6-5 win over John Higgins, during which he found himself 4-1 down early on.

Therefore, neither player has won in less than 10 frames so far, which means that 1/1 could prove a steal of a price that the total frames in this semi final is more than nine.

With a close encounter expected, another interesting market is the number of centuries that can be expected in the match.

Murphy only has one in the tournament from his first two matches, while Robertson converted three in his success over Allen.

Three in this match is a tempting proposition at 13/2, while punters should not be put off a particularly high-quality clash that delivers four 100+ breaks at 16/1.

Robertson is 9/1 to repeat his three centuries from his quarter-final victory.

Those fancying Murphy to make the final at the Masters for the second straight year can back him at 5/4 to get some revenge on Robertson and take the head-to-head record between the pair to 5-5.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.