AnalýzySNOOKER: Hendry - Selby
Semifinal stage of the Welsh Open and Pinnacle comes with a more than generous offer.
I see a big class difference between the two semifinalists and it is not in favour of the seven times world champion.Selby at the moment is one of the most all-around players and has improved a lot since the loss to John Higgins in the World Championship final.His most recent results are really impressive - reached the semifinals of the UK Championship,only to lose the decider when Ronnis made a maximum,and then went on to win the Masters in January.Seems that Selby wasn't taking last week's Malta Cup really seriously and saved his energy for the Welsh Open.His play so far in this event was almost perfect and he dealt easily with two really good opponents like Ken Doherty and John Higgins.
As for Stephen Hendry,I've heard all that interviews that he's stating he still has trophies left in himself and that he is playing in practice better than ever.However he shows nothing like that over the table.His results so far in Wales seem a bit misleading - he beat two easy opponents like Michael Holt in round one and Stephen Lee yesterday.And against Ryan Day he should have lost,I guess,but somehow managed to get off the hook and won the decider.
Ok,in a good day Hendry can still compete with most of the players around,but unfortunately I don't think he is anymore capable of threatening the top players.In my list these top guys are not only Ronnie,Maguire and Murphy,but also Selby.With consistency and increasing self-confidence Mark is quickly closing the gap to the other three mentioned.I think this match should be easier for him than the previous two in this event.In the Masters Selby beat Hendry 6-5 from 5-3 down,but I don't expect another dramatic outcome here.More likely is that Selby wins comfortably.I am taking the -1.5 handicap with really high stakes,and the straight win is close to a banker for me.GL!
zdroj: bettingadvice.com