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World Snooker Championship day seven predictions
- Jak Jones to beat Si Jiahui - 9/5 Betfred
- Stephen Maguire to beat Shaun Murphy – 13/8 Unibet
- Over 23.5 frames in Maguire vs Murphy – 2/1 at BoyleSports
Shaun Murphy is the man to watch in the top half of the 2024 World Snooker Championship as the bracket opens up for the No. 8 seed – but Stephen Maguire is a dangerous opponent and could produce another shock on Friday.
Murphy takes on Maguire in the headline match that could spill into Saturday, with a place in the quarter-finals at stake.
2005 world champion Murphy has endured a frustrating few years at the Crucible. His one final appearance since 2015 is a ray streak of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy record in Sheffield, with first and second round exits commonplace.
Maguire, meanwhile, has a great recent record against his tour adversary.
Online bookmakers reckon Murphy’s fortunes could change and price him as the favourite to beat Maguire. But there is certainly some doubt creeping in to odds setters after a flurry of shock results so far in Sheffield.
Two of those surprise wins came from Jak Jones and Si Jiahui, who overcame higher seeds in the first round to set up a dream last-16 tie for the pair of them on Friday. Win this and who knows how far either man can go?
Snooker betting sites have not been too consistent in Sheffield this year. They got it badly wrong when they predicted Mark Selby and Luca Brecel would saunter to victory. They overlooked Jack Lisowski and were rumbled when Mark Williams lost 10-9 to Si.
Punters are finding plenty of opportunities for backing Crucible underdogs so far. Friday is another example of the bookies not quite knowing what to do. Here, we offer three snooker tips for Friday’s action at the Crucible, starting with the big morning match.
Jak Jones vs Si Jiahui predictions
(10am Friday, BBC Two and Eurosport)
The 2024 World Snooker Championship is gearing up to be a year for the underdogs. Jones rocked 11th seed Zhang Anda 10-4 to make the second round, after coming through two qualifying rounds. Si also battled through two qualifiers and rumbled former champ Williams earlier this week.
Si’s ranking of 23 arguably gives him the edge here over World No 44 Jones. Betting apps certainly think China’s 21-year-old prodigy is on for a win at odds of 5/11.
However, dig a little deeper and Jones holds a 2-1 career record over Si, which includes a victory in China last year. Si reached the Crucible semi-finals last year but Jones was a quarter-finalist.
There’s an argument that both men should be equally priced for Friday's clash, but at 9/5 with Betfred, Jones to win is the better value wager.
World Snooker Championship tip 1: Jak Jones to beat Si Jiahui - 9/5 Betfred
Stephen Maguire vs Shaun Murphy predictions
(2:30pm Friday, BBC Two and Eurosport)
Murphy has had a fairly tepid season since winning the Championship League last summer, yet is the big favourite to beat Maguire on Friday. That’s despite his poor recent form and the fact that Maguire has won each of the last three matches between the pair.
Maguire’s seeding has slipped in recent years, and one can argue Murphy is a classier player. Yet the Scot won 10-8 when they last met at the 2022 World Snooker Championship and 5-4 at the 2021 Welsh Open.
Maguire doesn’t have much pedigree in Sheffield but given he’s a two-time semi-finalist and has reached the quarters on five more occasions, he cannot be discounted here.
With that in mind, Unibet price Maguire at 13/8 to win this contest (38 per cent probability) and Murphy at 1/2 (66 per cent).
That doesn’t sit right. Maguire stuffed ninth seed Ali Carter in the first round and has also come through two rounds of qualifying this spring. He’s the form player and we believe he's worth backing to advance to the quarter-finals.
World Snooker Championship tip 2: Stephen Maguire to beat Shaun Murphy – 13/8 Unibet
World Snooker Championship betting tip: Expect a long duel in Sheffield
Regardless of the victor on Friday, Maguire vs Murphy may go down to the wire. These men are evenly matched and Maguire’s form outweighs Murphy’s ranking.
So far they have had fairly steady openings to the World Snooker Championship. However, century breaks were hard to come by in both first-round games and their points averages lingered around 60.
Friday’s match will likely be fraught with inconsistencies. This favours a long match and it’s best-of-13 in the second round. A tight contest is expected, which makes BoyleSports’ odds of 2/1 for over 23.5 frames a viable option.
World Snooker Championship tip 3: Over 23.5 frames in Maguire vs Murphy – 2/1 at BoyleSports
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Last Updated: 25th April 2024, 12:17 PM
