Shaun Murphy vs Mark Allen quarter-final clash preview: 2012 Welsh Open at Newport Centre
The quarter-final session of the 2012 Welsh Open snooker tournament will be underway on Friday, February 17 at the Newport Centre arena in Newport, Wales. Top eight potters of the event
have successfully made their way into the last-8 round. Meanwhile, the 2012 Masters snooker event finalist, England’s Shaun Murphy has set up a quarter-final match against the 2011 UK Championship finalist, Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen.
Both Murphy and Allen have been outstanding at the baize during the tournament and have produced some of the best snooker displays so far with their sparking cue sticks. They grabbed easy
victories in the first two rounds of the tournament to book their quarter-final spots. Despite the fact that they have not been able to clinch any major event so far in the current season, both potters are in good shape and are performing convincingly from
the start of the season.
The 29-year-old Murphy started the 2011-12 Snooker Season with Players Tour Championship (PTC) Event 1 where he crashed out of the event at the end of the first round. However, his overall
performance in the season so far is convincing. His current match winning ratio after participating in 44 contests is 64.4 percent after clinching 28 matches while his frame winning rate is 54.9 percent after winning 158 frames out of 288.
As far as his run in the 2012 Welsh Open snooker contest is concerned, he has played two matches against Mark Joyce and Steve Davis in the first two rounds and was victorious in both by
the score line of 4-2 and 4-0, respectively.
On the other hand, Mark Allen’s form in the recent circuit is comparatively better than Murphy regardless of the fact that both potters reached the finals of two major events but lost
their respective matches. Allen’s recent match winning percentage is 67.5 with 27 wins out of 40 games while his tendency of winning a frame is 58.4 percent with 160 frame triumphs after participating in 274 frames.
In the same fashion, his campaign in the 2012 Welsh Open is also better that of Murphy’s. He also took part in two matches against Ken Doherty and Stephen Hendry in first two rounds and
whitewashed both veterans quite easily in their respective games. The 2011 UK Championship finalist has grabbed a strong position in the event.
Head-to-Head
Despite of the above mentioned performances in the current season, their head-to-head contest history is a different story. Mark Allen has been better than Murphy regarding his individual
performance in the season, but he has never won against Murphy. According to their head-to-head stats, both players have played each other four times before and Murphy has won all four matches. The one-to-one stats are showing clearly that odds are favouring
Murphy.
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