Luca Brecel will be hoping to carry his impressive form at the Champion of Champions into the Shanghai Masters with his first-round match against Matthew Stevens taking place on Tuesday. Brecel is quickly becoming one of the stars of the sport and he produced a fantastic showing on his debut at the Champion of Champions in Coventry last week, reaching the semi-finals.
The ‘Belgian Bullet’, who won his maiden title at the China Championship this year, defeated world number three Judd Trump 4-0 in the first round before edging past world number one Mark Selby 6-4 in the quarter-finals. He eventually lost to Shaun Murphy, who went on to lift the trophy after beating five-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-8 in the final, in the last-four stage but there was enough to suggest a second career title is not far away. The 22-year-old will be making just his second appearance at the Shanghai Masters, having bowed out at the first hurdle in 2015, and he faces a tricky opener against Stevens, who is starting to rediscover some of his better form.
Wales’ star has reached the third round in three tournaments this season – the English Open, China Championship and Paul Hunter Classic – and he defeated Brecel in their only encounter back at the 2014 Australian Open. Stevens, who is a two-time world championship finalist, won 5-3 on that day at the Bendigo Stadium and he is priced at 6/1 to repeat that scoreline on Tuesday. Brecel is a much more accomplished player than he was three years ago and he is the 4/9 favourite to pick up the win whilst his opponent is the 13/8 outsider.
Snooker odds available at Dafabet.