A fascinating day of quarter finals at the English Open is over and on Saturday the two semi-finals will be played inside the Metrodome in Barnsley with the winner of the tournament just two days from being determined.
Ronnie O’Sullivan is fighting a lone battle for the oldies from here on in with three 20 somethings looking to see him off and get their hands on the £70,000 first prize on Sunday and remain the only man left with a chance of winning the £1 million bounty for taking all four Home Nations events down.
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Alexander Ursenbacher vs Kyren Wilson
The opening semi-final is a match nobody would have predicted as the rising Swiss star Alexander Ursenbacher takes on the established and high-class Kyren Wilson over the best of 11 frames for a place in the final on Sunday.
Ursenbacher looks to be getting better and better as the week goes on which is quite remarkable when you consider that he is at this stage of a ranking event for the first time. He has seen off Shaun Murphy and Michael White in the last two rounds and dropped just the one frame in the process.
To be fair Kyren Wilson is in excellent form this week too. He had rammed in a century in every match up until his quarter final in which he out battled Hossein Vafaei but even then he had a couple of decent breaks to make it through safely enough.
There might be a bit of a sign of the future in this match. I wouldn’t necessarily put anyone off taking Ursenbacher but at some point he has to realise where he is so maybe Wilson will edge him out. I can’t really predict the match outcome with confidence but there is one bet that I like.
I’m not convinced much safety is going to get played here, certainly not from the Swiss at least, so I like the idea of more than 5.5 50+ breaks. Both men have scored really well this week and there is no reason why that won’t continue in what could be a closer semi-final than the odds suggest.
Anthony McGill vs Ronnie O’Sullivan
The second semi-final was a little easier to predict as the Indian Open runner-up Anthony McGill takes on Ronnie O’Sullivan who is looking for a first title since The Masters at the beginning of 2017.
McGill has played some nice stuff to make it this far this week and his fighting spirit was shown in abundance in his win over Neil Robertson in the quarter final where he had to come from behind three times before eventually prevailing 5-3. He showed good scoring ability and excellent tactical nous.
O’Sullivan has looked like the player of the week to me so far. He has been amazing from distance, scoring heavily in the balls and his safety has been of a very high standard. You can tell from his desperation to find trainers to the relaxed nature of his interviews after matches that he’s bang up for this job.
I’m all over the Rocket in this one. I probably would have been anyway to be fair but McGill’s shocking admission after his quarter final win that if he plays Ronnie he’ll get beaten sealed the deal for me. I thought at the time it was a ridiculous comment to make and it tells me he could be beaten before the two enter the arena. If that’s the case Ronnie should win no worse than 6-3.
Tips
WON – Back A.Ursenbacher vs K.Wilson – Over 5.5 50+ breaks for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Paddy Power
Back it here:
Back R.O’Sullivan (-2.5 frames) to beat A.McGill for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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