The remaining boys on the baize are beginning to dream of kissing the little lady on top of the World Championship trophy.
For some – including our featured Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams – it would be just another to the collection of many snogs following a shared nine titles at the Crucible, but for Stephen Maguire and Yan Bingtao, they will be looking for love at first sight.
We’re down to the last eight in Sheffield with two mouth-watering quarter-finals grabbing our focus on Tuesday afternoon.
Let’s take a look at our two big tips for the quarter-finals in Sheffield:
Stephen Maguire v Ronnie O’Sullivan – Under 20.5 frames
Stephen Maguire has been somewhat of a surprise package at this year’s World Championship.
The Scot was the underdog coming into both of his matches so far – beating Shaun Murphy and Zhao Xintong – but will need to upset even greater odds (4/1 with bet365) if he is going to stand in the way of Ronnie O’Sullivan and a march towards a seventh world title.
“The Rocket” hasn’t been faultless this week by any means but has only lost nine frames to David Gilbert and Mark Allen en route to the quarter-finals, and is finding his rhythm in Sheffield.
Maguire has won only four of their 23 meetings dating back to 2001 and the “Maverick” – down at number 40 in the world – isn’t in the kind of season form to upset O’Sullivan on comfortable turf.
Under 20.5 frames looks a good option as O’Sullivan canters towards a win down the stretch – essentially, 13-7 or under.
Mark Williams to score 4 centuries v Yan Bingtao
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a snooker player who has enjoyed more of a purple patch this season than Mark Williams has during the opening week of this season’s World Championship.
The Welshman has rattled home 10 centuries already in crushing 10-3 and 13-3 wins over fellow countrymen Michael White and Jackson Page, and is beginning to emerge as a real contender for a fourth world title in Sheffield.
Yan Bingtao is one of the most exciting players on the tour and is able to hold his own against the world’s elite; he proved this by ending the reign of Mark Selby in the second round via a 13-10 win where he had to dig deep in tactical safety battles.
We think this will prove to be a bit of a ‘pick ‘em’ contest with plenty of frames available for the centuries to build once again.
4 centuries for the Welshman feels about right at 9/2, and there is even value in 4/5 with bet365 for the match win.
* Betting odds correct at the time of writing. Subject to changes.
