Graeme Dott versus Mark King - 2011Betfred.com World Snooker Championship Preview
Graeme Dott and Mark King will be one-on-one in the last-32 round of 2011 Betfred.com World Snooker Champion, which will be stage from 16 April to 3
May at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, England.
It was back in 2004 when these two had clashed at the Crucible Theatre, where Graeme Dott registered a 10-9 win over Mark King in the last-32.
Current world number nine, Dott, will be fancied for the match, as he was the runner-up in the last year’s world champion, where he lost to Neil Robertson by a frame score of 18-13. He has also lifted the world title in 2006. Moreover, Dott also leads King
by 4-1 in their overall five ranking event meetings. He defeated King first in the 1996 Welsh Open by a frame score of 5-3 and later on registered himself in the Irish Open, 2004 World Championship and PTC6 event by a frame score of 5-4, 10-9 and 4-3 respectively.
King in the meanwhile could only manage a 6-2 win against him once in the 2004 Irish Masters.
However, nothing can be said for sure, as all the battles they have had as of yet were fully stretched. Moreover both players are highly experienced when it comes to the Crucible Theatre, as they both have participated twelve times before and this will be
their thirteenth appearance. So handling the crowd’s pressure should not be a worry.
The reason why Dott will be fancied is because he has far better credentials then his opponent. Apart from lifting the world championship trophy in 2006 and he has also reached the finals twice, including in the last year’s world championship. However the
world’s number twenty-five, King, on the other hand has only been able to make it to the last-16.
The Pocket dynamo, Dott, has also had a solid season this year. He has kept himself safely in the top-16 and is going to be looking ahead for a spot in the top-8 next year. Dott has only suffered one first round defeat this season against Neil Robertson
in the World Open but he played reasonably well in his other matches. His best performance of this season in a full ranking event came in the German Masters, where he reached the semi-finals before losing to Mark Selby by a frame score of 6-4.
Meanwhile the Romford Battler, Mark King, has not been able to live up to the expectations, as he has suffered some early defeats in the World Open, UK Championship, German Masters and China Open this season. However some of his notable performances this
season were his feat against Mark Selby at the Wembley Masters. He also reached the quarter-finals of Shanghai Masters, where he outplayed the likes of Joe Delaney and Peter Ebdon.
Keeping in mind all the above mentioned facts it can be said that Graeme Dott is a player who can handle the pressure in a bit better way and deserves to be a favourite in this match.
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