After Friday’s action at the World Grand Prix we now know Barry Hawkins will compete in Sunday’s final and on Saturday evening we will find out who he will face when the second semi-final takes place.
Due to ITV4 covering the racing in the afternoon there is only one session on Saturday and it comes in the evening as Marco Fu and Ryan Day battle it out for a place in the final.
Marco Fu
For the fourth event in five Marco Fu is in the semi-finals of a tournament and just like those previous ones he is here off the back of his scoring power which has been relentless at times this week so far.
In almost every match he has come out of the traps scoring heavily and gained a lead and then he has managed to get over the line when things have got tight or scrappy and that bodes well for him here. He hasn’t been behind in the tournament yet but that isn’t a concern as we saw both in Scotland and in The Masters that he can perform strongly even when he is in an early hole.
Ryan Day
The Welshman is in his first major semi-final for three years and having more made a final since the 2008 Grand Prix he will be itching to make the most of this opportunity and then go on and shed this tag he has suddenly inherited which says he is the best player never to win a major title.
Day has looked really good this week. He has seen off Stuart Bingham, Michael White and Shaun Murphy with something to spare and you sense he might not be finished yet. His scoring has been very heavy as highlighted when he nearly made a 147 in the second round and his safety in the main has been good too. I fancy this will be his toughest test thus far though.
Head to Head
These two have met on ten previous occasions down the years and Marco Fu leads 6-4 courtesy of winning the last two matches between them. The most recent of those came in Northern Ireland earlier in the season when the Hong Kong man came through in a deciding frame.
Betting
I’m effectively already on Marco Fu to win this match at 14/1 having backed him outright before a ball was struck in the tournament. A win here will secure the place part of the outright bet and give us every chance of the rest in the final so I’ve no need to get involved in the match outcome here.
There is one bet I like though and that is the 10/11 on Fu to hit a century. Since Fu was knocked out of the Northern Ireland Trophy he has played 23 matches in all tournaments and he has nailed a century in 20 of them which is an incredible statistic.
I have always said you can tell how well Fu is feeling by how he is scoring and you don’t get any better than that. If Fu was called Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson or Judd Trump this bet would be 2/5. The fact is Fu is scoring better than all three of them combined so the value in the 10/11 is obscene.
Tips
WON – Back M.Fu Over 0.5 centuries for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Paddy Power
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