4th February 2012

Murphy vs Maguire Betting: Stephen Maguire can prevail in the semi final grudge match

The second semi final of the German Masters snooker is a bit of a grudge match as Shaun Murphy takes on Stephen Maguire over the best of 11 frames for a place in Sunday’s final. Both men have had tricky routes to this semi final but it’s the Masters runner-up Shaun Murphy who comes into the match as the 10/11 favourite for the match with Sportingbet but Maguire is unlikely to fall away easily.

Shaun Murphy had to withstand something of a fightback from Mark Selby in their quarter final on Friday night. The Magician moved into a 4-1 lead against the world number one before Selby rattled off two frames but Murphy got over the line eventually. That was his second tough match of the week after he had to come from 4-3 down to defeat Shootout winner Barry Hawkins 5-4 in the first round so Murphy’s competitive juices have been tested already this week.

Stephen Maguire has reached this stage the hard way in terms of opposition he’s beaten. He had one of the trickier first round draws in Ryan Day but brushed him aside easily and he then thrashed John Higgins 5-0 in the second round. He came from 4-2 down to Judd Trump in the quarter final to beat him on the final black so it’s fair to say Stephen Maguire is living up to his ‘On Fire’ nickname this week.

These two have a bit of history over a match in the Grand Prix a few years ago and it’s well known they are not best friends because of it so this will be a keenly fought semi final where neither give an inch but for me Stephen Maguire is playing the better snooker this week. He clearly loves Germany and the crowds having won PTC 12 in the country last month and I’ll take him to move to within one win of another title in Germany here in Berlin.

Back S.Maguire to beat S.Murphy for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with BetVictor

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