Our snooker expert Richard Mann has cast his eye over the Romanian Masters and likes the look of Stephen Maguire at a big price.
The Romanian Masters gets underway on Wednesday and current World Champion Mark Selby begins his challenge with a tricky opening match against Liang Wenbo.
Selby will be keen to enjoy a good week here, having endured a frustrating campaign to date, and with the defence of his Crucible crown getting closer by the day, he will know that he needs to find some form soon.
Selby had appeared to be nearing his best form when making the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix recently but he suffered an early exit from the Welsh Open subsequently, actually losing out to this week’s first-round opponent Wenbo, and looks worth opposing in the outright market given some firms have him priced up as favourite to lift the trophy.
The evergreen John Higgins comes into this tournament with his game in good working order and is vying with Selby for outright favouritism following his record-breaking fifth Welsh Open success in Cardiff.
He is very tempting with Sky Bet offering 11/2 for him to triumph but it is fellow Scotsman, Stephen Maguire, who makes most appeal at the prices.
Maguire is a fine attacking player who can mix it with the very best when on song. A heavy break builder with a strong long game, he boasts all of the tools required to be one of leading forces in the game.
Winner of the 2004 UK Championship, Maguire has made the semi-finals of the World Championship twice in his career and has gone close to lifting a big title this season already, making it as far as the last four of the World Grand Prix recently.
Only a virtuoso performance from Ronnie O’Sullivan could halt his charge that night but it is worth noting that Maguire dominated much of the early stages of that match, something very few can claim to have done this season, and he is clearly in good enough form to put it up to the very best.
Having skipped the Gibraltar Open last week, Maguire should arrive here a fresh animal and 20/1 looks too big given his draw could have been much worse.
With O’Sullivan missing this event, 7-1 chance Judd Trump will see this as an opportunity to get his campaign back on track and it will be fascinating to watch how he gets on following some moderate recent results.
Posted at 1130 GMT on 13/03/18.
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