World number seven Shaun Murphy will be gunning for a second Players Championship this week and he has been drawn against rising star Kyren Wilson in the first round. Murphy, seeded sixth for the tournament, has been in decent form this season, having won the 2017 Champion of Champions whilst also reaching the finals of the China Championship, Paul Hunter Classic and UK Championship. However, the 35-year-old has struggled in recent weeks and suffered first-round exits at the Snooker Shootout and Welsh Open before withdrawing from the Gibraltar Open before the event started.
The Englishman did win the Players Championship in 2011 when it was held in Dublin but he fell at the first hurdle in last year’s edition, narrowly losing 5-4 to Ali Carter at Venue Cymru in Llandudno. He will be hoping for better this time around but ‘The Magician’ has been handed a difficult opening test against compatriot Wilson, who has lost in the finals at the World Open, English Open and The Masters this season. The 26-year-old did claim gold at the 2017 World Games and, in what is arguably his most consistent campaign, he is priced at 18/1 to win the tournament, the same odds as Stephen Maguire and Yan Bingtao.
Murphy, who is 28/1 to win the 2018 World Championship, does have a good recent record against Wilson, having won their last three meetings, and he will be hoping to make it a fourth win on the bounce in Wales. The 2005 world champion is the marginal 8/11 favourite to advance into the quarter-finals whilst his opponent, making his second Players Championship appearance, is a 11/10 chance.