Back an over nine-frames double on Walden and Selby quarters
Published:Two tantalising quarter-final match-ups lie in store for the evening session of snooker’s UK Championships at York’s Barbican Centre and after predicting two frame-light last-16 encounters, we believe the public will get their money’s worth this time, when Mark Selby takes on Barry Hawkins and Mark Allen faces Ricky Walden.
A successful double pays out at 4/1
Reigning UK and Masters champion Selby will not have been too delighted to learn that 9th-seed Barry Hawkins had come through an 11-frame thriller with Shaun Murphy.
The Jester from Leicester has already faced The Hawk four times in the calendar year and lost on three occasions, giving real credence to the 13/8 on offer for the slight underdog to prevail.
Of course, Hawkins was the man who stopped Selby’s Triple-Crown charge with that 13-10 victory at the Crucible back in April, before ousting the number one-seed at this stage of the Shanghai Masters in September.
A deciding frame was required to separate them on that occasion and another cat-and-mouse contest can be expected here as any revenge is likely to be hard fought.
After preventing China’s Ding Junhui the chance to become the first player since Stephen Hendry in 1990 to win four ranking events in a row, confidence couldn’t be higher for Englishman Walden.
For this reason alone it could be worth taking the number 13–seed to overcome Allen at 11/8, though a victory over Judd Trump is also a feather in the cap for his outspoken opponent at 4/7.
Crucially, both players have gone over the nine-frame mark in their last two previous matches to make the quarters and the last time they met in August, a deciding frame was also required.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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