We are down to the semi-final stage of the UK Championship with both matches to be played over two sessions of potentially exciting action inside the Barbican Centre in York on Saturday. We are down to the one table arena now so things are getting pretty serious.
Although there have been shocks galore this week we are left with four men inside the top 20 in the world to battle it out for the title over the course of the weekend which should make for some exciting action.
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Afternoon Session
Stephen Maguire vs Ronnie O’Sullivan
The opening semi-final has plenty of importance on it. Not only is it a semi-final of one of the Triple Crown events but for Stephen Maguire it is the last hurdle to overcome to qualify for The Masters. Win and he’s in. Lose and he won’t be. Ronnie O’Sullivan will be aiming to reach another final in this wonderful run he’s currently on.
If we assess the form of the two men this week Maguire has played much the better of the two. I don’t think there is any doubt about that. He has probably had the harder route to make this semi-final too. You can never rule out O’Sullivan but Sunny Akani should have dumped him out and Martin Gould had some insane bad luck against the Rocket in the quarter final.
Whether Maguire is good enough to win this match remains to be seen but based on the week so far he will get chances here and I think he can take four of them if not the six he needs to book a spot at Ally Pally.
I also think we’ll see a couple of centuries in this semi-final. O’Sullivan made two centuries to open up his quarter final while Maguire is one of the heavier scorers in the game as well. With that in mind over 1.5 centuries looks a fair play to me.
Evening Session
Ryan Day vs Shaun Murphy
The second semi-final sees two tournament winners from this season doing battle when the Riga Masters champion Ryan Day takes on the Champion of Champions winner Shaun Murphy for a place in the final.
Murphy has cruised into this semi-final. He has only dropped two frames in his previous two matches while Day has played three deciders in a row to make it this far but I fancy this will be quite a tough battle.
Day has worked hard to make it this far and won’t want to give that up easily while Murphy is looking solid but is no stranger to a really tight battle himself. These two have met over 20 times so they know each other well enough and that familiarity can see us beyond 9.5 frames.
Tips
WON – Back S.Maguire (+2.5 frames) to beat R.O’Sullivan for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with BetVictor
Back him here:
WON – Back S.Maguire vs R.O’Sullivan – Over 1.5 centuries for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
Back R.Day vs S.Murphy – Over 9.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
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