The second day of the 2020 Masters lived up to its hype, with many predicting it to be packed with so much fun and probably upsets like the opening day.
To kick off the day, familiar faces in the snooker world, Neil Robertson and Stephen Maguire, battled for supremacy and a place in the last-eight of the tournament.
After seeing the duo of Ding Junhui and Mark Selby suffer surprising exits in the opening games of the Masters, Neil Robertson looked as though he wouldn’t fall victim to the same fate.
As expected, the Australian raced into a commanding 2-0 lead after taking the first two frames. The blonde was helped by a break of 136, a perfect way to start the drubbing of his English opponent.
Robertson won two more frames and was in flight mode, cruising in comfort and subjecting his opponent to one of the most humiliating defeats in the history of the Masters’ tournament. Though, a game of 11 breaks, Robertson was in electrifying mode and looked in danger of washing away his opponent like a tsunami.
It was at this point that Maguire began his journey. The morale from his fans might have been failing at this point, but he was buoyed by his winning mentality. Still, it was Robertson who picked the next frame running into a 5-0 lead.
Maguire quickly made a statement with a clearance of 105 to make the scoreline more serene at 5-1. He then came back from a 56-0 deficit to take the frame and close the gap even further.
Robertson was close to sealing the game after a break of 40, but he failed to finish the game off, gifting Maguire the chance to complete a thrilling comeback. The Englishman wouldn’t reject the gift served to him on a platter, and he upped his performances to take the 10th frame and level matters at 5-5.
Once again, Robertson looked like he could stop Maguire in his tracks after taking a 33-0 lead in the deciding frame. However, having missed a black into the corner, he was overtaken by Maguire, who replied with a break of 62. 6-5 it ended in favour of Stephen Maguire.
Judd Trump is priced at 1.32 to see off Shaun Murphy, while Murphy is backed at 3.33 to win the encounter.
Written by: Roland Arum
