Adam Williams presents his prediction for the English Open snooker match.
Shaun Murphy
It is surprising that Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson are meeting each other in the second round of the English Open. Both are former world champions, and two of the most consistent players should not be playing each other before the quarterfinals. So why did this happen?
Neil Robertson
The thing is, Neil Robertson played extremely poorly last season, only reaching the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters and World Open. In other tournaments, he usually lost in the first round, so without ranking points, Neil fell out of the top 16 and is now trying to get back there. This season, Neil is playing much better. In Xi'an, he lost to Yuan Sijun, and in Riyadh, he lost in the quarterfinals to Judd Trump. In the rest of his matches, he has won with his usual excellent play.
Shaun Murphy vs Neil Robertson Prediction
Shaun Murphy also lost to Judd Trump in the semifinals of the same tournament in Riyadh and in the final of the Shanghai Masters. Shaun is playing great, but we expected such a great game from him. In a head-to-head match, Shaun is a slight favourite. However, we don't think we should expect a crushing score. We believe either Shaun or Neil could win, but it will likely take six or seven frames. So, we bet on the total over 5.5 frames.
