26th June 2012
Murphy vs Doherty Betting: Ken Doherty can use his match practice to good use to cover handicap against Murphy
Two former world champions meet in the first round of the Wuxi Classic on Wednesday when Shaun Murphy takes on Ken Doherty over the best of 9 frames for a place in the second round of the China based tournament. Doherty had to come through a wildcard match to make it to this stage but come through it he did and he can be backed at 12/5 with Ladbrokes to come through this match in front too.
Shaun Murphy comes into the new season looking for more titles. The only title the Magician won last year was the Brazilian Masters and he’ll be looking to bulge his trophy cabinet with a lot more silverware this season. It remains to be seen how he’ll start the season as this is his first match and he lost in the first round of the last two tournaments at the end of last season so he needs a couple of wins to gain some confidence.
Ken Doherty came through his wildcard match the hard way. He had to come from 4-2 down to beat Lu Ning 5-4 but he did put in a century break along the way. Having qualified for both this and the Australia Open, Doherty has a few matches under his belt but perhaps more importantly he has some winning momentum under his belt too. However last season whenever he got to this level he rarely delivered.
I would expect that to change here though. We saw in the Neil Robertson vs Jamie Burnett match that the man with matches under his belt held an advantage over the man who was playing for the first time and I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the case in this match either. We know Ken Doherty can still play the game and although you would expect Murphy to win the match I think Doherty can get off to a fast start and win at least the three frames he would need to cover the +2.5 frame handicap.
Back K.Doherty (+2.5 frames) to beat S.Murphy for a 4/10 stake at 1.67 with Betfred
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Author: 'Arry Allsports
