The opening semi-final of the Champion of Champions takes place on Friday night inside the Ricoh Arena in Coventry as Ronnie O’Sullivan and Anthony Hamilton battle it out over the best of 11 frames for a place in Sunday’s final.
Both men came through their respective groups impressively to get themselves into the tournament and now they are one more win away from one of the biggest finals of the season in terms of prize money.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
The Masters and English Open champion was superb in coming through his group on Thursday. He saw off Neil Robertson 4-1 and then absolutely battered John Higgins 6-0 in his group final in what was not just a statement performance for the rest of this tournament but also one for the remainder of the season.
Right now there does not appear to be a weakness in O’Sullivan’s game. He is scoring well, his safety is near mesmerising and if you think leaving him at distance provides an obstacle you can think again on that score too. He looks as in tune with his game as I have ever seen and he appears hell bent on running over anything in his way.
Anthony Hamilton
Considering he is on debut in this tournament, Anthony Hamilton has done very well to make it this far in the event. When you factor in he was drawn against Ding Junhui in his group semi-final then he has done even better to get this far. He deserves even more credit for doing it when admitting himself that he is match rusty.
That might be why we score him struggle to score in his group on Monday and in the end he had to outlast his opponents rather than outscore them like we saw him doing when he won his title in the German Masters which got him into this event. One thing is for sure he will need a monumental improvement on his scoring here but we know how good he can be in the balls.
Head to Head
These two have met 11 times down the years which is no surprise given how long the pair of them have been professionals. O’Sullivan holds a 9-2 head to head lead but their last meeting was back in 2011 so it is open to debate how much we take from that. If we are to take anything from it then their matches over 11 frames or more ended 9-1, 6-4 and 13-3 in O’Sullivan’s favour.
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Betting
I give full credit to Anthony Hamilton for making it this far and if you heard his interview on Monday you will know he has his wish of playing Ronnie O’Sullivan on this big stage. While I’m sure he’ll enjoy and relish the occasion I don’t expect the result to be much fun for him.
O’Sullivan just looks in amazing form right now. If Higgins can’t find a safety game to get on top of him I’m not convinced Hamilton can which means Hamilton is going to have to outscore the Rocket. He is good enough to do that but every chance he gets is going to have so much pressure on it that eventually I think he’ll crack. I’m expecting Ronnie to cruise through here.
Tips
WON – Back R.O’Sullivan (-3.5 frames) to beat A.Hamilton for a 4/10 stake at 2.15 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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