Murphy and Trump out to shock Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Masters
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The world’s best snooker players are back amongst it this week as the Masters Snooker gets underway from the Alexandra Palace.
Ronnie O’Sullivan heads a field of 16 looking to walk away with the £200,000 top prize in the first major tournament of the New Year.
The Rocket has won this event in three of the last four years and is 9/4 to claim the title for the eighth time.
O’Sullivan has been in fantastic form this season and has reached the final of the two non-ranking tournaments that have been held so far.
He’s also won the UK Championship, Shanghai Masters and English Open already this term.
That makes the task of joint-second favourites Judd Trump and Mark Selby a tough one at 5/1 apiece.
Trump has had a solid season thus far but will need to improve on previous showings at the Masters.
The Juddernaut has crashed out in the first round of this event on three occasions.
He will be buoyed by a kind draw which sees him in the bottom half away from O’Sullivan.
However, Selby, who has won this tournament three times, could await in the semi-finals.
The Jester from Leicester has been out of sorts this season and will need to show significant improvement if he’s to mount a challenge.
Last year’s Champion of Champions winner is in good form and has reached the semi-finals or better in three of the last five years at the Alexandra Palace.
He showed earlier this season that he can beat the best when it matters most. And we think he has what it takes to go all the way in North London.
Elsewhere, Ding Junhui is 14/1, Barry Hawkins is available at 22/1 and Mark Allen rounds out the sub-30/1 contenders at 25/1.
With two of the top six players also coming from the third quarter of the draw, it could also be worth having a look at the 7/2 on offer for the winner to come from the quarter three.
Click here for our latest Masters odds.
All Odds and Markets correct as of date of publication.
