Ronnie O’Sullivan is into the Champion of Champions final once again and on Saturday evening he will find out who he will face for the title on Sunday when Mark Allen and Kyren Wilson do battle in the second semi-final at the Ricoh Arena.
These two met in The Masters final earlier in the year, a contest in which Allen came out on top in but Wilson has improved beyond measure since then. Allen looks to be in the form of his life at the minute as well so we are set up for a cracking evening of snooker.
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Mark Allen
There can’t be many players seeing the pockets as big as Mark Allen at the minute. He arrived in Coventry off the back of winning the International Championship out in China last week and picked up where he left off in his group in this tournament on Thursday. In China he made 14 centuries on the week and he already has five to his name here. He is scoring to Ronnie O’Sullivan levels right now.
Sometimes you can argue that a player picks up emphatic wins against lesser opposition but Allen’s last three wins have come against Neil Robertson twice and Barry Hawkins so you can’t even level that at him. If he plays like he did either last week in China or on Thursday then he is entitled to feel incredibly hard to beat over the course of this contest.
Kyren Wilson
If there is one thing we know about Kyren Wilson it is that while he will respect his opponent here he will also take on the challenge and raise his game accordingly. In fairness to him though he doesn’t need to raise it too much. Mark Allen wasn’t the only one in good form in his group. Wilson took care of Mark Williams and Judd Trump in his group and lost only the two frames in the process.
What caught the eye in that group was the scoring that Wilson delivered. He banged in two sizeable centuries and a 96 break in beating Trump and he is probably going to need scoring of that level here. The one thing he does have in his locker is plenty of bottle and a decent tactical game. The whiff of revenge might get his juices flowing as well.
Head to Head
These two have played on 12 occasions with this being their biggest match outside of that Masters final. Allen won that final but it is Wilson who holds a 7-5 lead on their career record. He has won their last two matches including their latest battle which was over a long distance at the World Championship in April. While their match record is fairly close Wilson leads 63-54 on their frames played so he tends to win a shade cosily. This will be their fourth semi-final meeting. Wilson has won two of the first three of them so history at least is on the side of Wilson.
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Betting
This should be a cracking semi-final. It is one that I don’t need to bet on the outcome of though as I’m already on Wilson at 11/1 having backed him outright for this tournament before a ball was struck and that is more than enough for me in terms of the match result. I will take one from the side markets though.
In among the Betfred pick your punts segment for this match there is a line for Mark Allen to make a break of 110+ at 11/10 and I think that has to be jumped on. Allen has made 19 centuries in the last couple of weeks, five of which have been this week and three of them have cleared 110. Nine of his 14 tons in China last week covered 110 as well so I’ll take the over on that particular punt.
Tips
Back M.Allen to make a 110+ break for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfred
Back him here:
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