Murphy v Fu: Hendon’s preview

With the start of the 2008 UK Championship final just an hour away now, click below to find the link to Snooker Scene’s David Hendon’s excellent preview over at Betfair, as well as my own thoughts on the match…

Click here to visit Betfair and read David’s preview.

Overall I agree with much of what he says and hope that it will be a close final, certainly closer than last year’s one-sided affair when Ronnie O’Sullivan won his first ranking event title since 2005 against Stephen Maguire.

Who do I think will win? It is a tough one and I think you can make a convincing argument for either player winning.

In Marco’s favour is that he has more recent experience of winning a big event following his victory in the Grand Prix last year and with an extra day off having played his semi-final on Friday, perhaps he will be fresh and fully prepared for today’s match.

That said, Shaun having lost all of his ranking event matches this season before his run in Telford will be quite fresh himself, particularly as his win last night was not a hard-fought midnight finish or anything like that. He has not really delivered on his promise since that breathrough world title as Hendon suggests, but he is a dangerous player and if he can get his long-game going, could really put a lot of pressure on Marco.

Fingers crossed that it is a close one…