Analysis

2025 Masters Snooker Final: Shaun Murphy v Kyren Wilson - preview, stats, head-to-head

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It’s an all-English affair for the final of the 2025 Masters Snooker, as Shaun Murphy and Kyren Wilson contest the showpiece match at the Alexandra Palace with the winner set to lift The Paul Hunter Trophy and pocket a record-breaking first prize of £350,000.

It has been another brilliant week of baize-action in London for professional snooker’s most prestigious invitational event that is celebrating its 50th anniversary year following John Spencer’s dramatic victory at the inaugural staging in 1975 when he ousted Ray Reardon on a re-spotted black in the deciding frame of the final.

A decade on from when he claimed the title here, Murphy is one step away from becoming a multiple-time Masters champion.

‘The Magician’ began his campaign with a 6-3 win over Gary Wilson in round one - resisting a mid-match rally from his opponent - before seeing off late call-up to the event Neil Robertson 6-2 in the quarter-finals.

Against Robertson, in the final frame, Murphy snookered himself on the yellow having sunk 15 reds and 15 blacks, however, in his semi-final with Mark Allen, he became only the fifth different player in Masters history to complete the feat of perfection during a 6-3 victory over the former world number one.

Having been runner-up in 2012, this will be Murphy’s third Masters final appearance - his first since his title triumph in 2015. It is the 42-year-old’s second final of the season after being runner-up at the Shanghai Masters in July.

Murphy has completed a Career Triple Crown - winning each of snooker’s three most important titles once - but his last came here 10 years ago, and many feel another TC title is overdue and deserved having consistently stayed within the top echelons of the sport for so long.

Reigning World Champion Wilson is aiming to join an exclusive club of players who have held two Triple Crown titles at the same time.

‘The Warrior’ - who is thriving whilst wearing the world crown - has already won two titles this season (Xi’an Grand Prix and Northern Ireland Open). Wilson travelled to the capital feeling sharp after winning a group at the Championship League, and that matchplay post-Christmas may have served him well as he was made to work very hard in dispatching Zhang Anda and Luca Brecel, both 6-4, in his opening two matches.

In his semi-final, Wilson defeated world number one Judd Trump 6-3, extinguishing his opponent’s hopes of a remarkable ‘Trump Slam’ having won both the Saudi Masters and UK Championship crowns earlier this term.

This will be Wilson’s second outing in a Masters final; he was denied the accolade by Allen in 2018, and this is the first time since then he has made the final four of this tournament.

If you include all their meetings across all formats in professional competition, Murphy has a commanding 10-4 lead in career head-to-heads - although Wilson is a different proposition for all players these days.

Their last meeting came more than 21 months ago in the final of the 2023 Tour Championship in Hull. On that day, Wilson led 4-0, but it was Murphy who shelved the silverware with a 10-7 win.

The other time they met in a final was at the 2020 Welsh Open, although Wilson would like to forget that one as Murphy ran away as a 9-1 victor.

Murphy also bested Wilson within the one-table set-up at the Crucible Theatre during the 2021 World Championship, recovering from 10-4 down to defeat Wilson 17-12 in the semi-finals - winning 13 of the final 15 frames.

Their three most recent get-togethers all went the way of Murphy. Wilson's last 'W' against Murphy was at the last 16 stage of the 2022 European Masters - a competition he went on to win.

This is Murphy and Wilson's first meeting at the Masters.

When is the 2025 Masters Snooker final and what is it the first to? Who is playing today on Sunday 19th January?

The 2025 Masters final between Shaun Murphy and Kyren Wilson takes place on Sunday 19th January at the Alexandra Palace in London.

The final is the best of 19 frames (first to 10 frames), and is played across two sessions - the afternoon session starts at 13:00GMT and the evening session begins at 19:00GMT.

For a full list of results from the 2025 Masters, please visit here.

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