Four men remain in the English Open with the first Home Nations title just two wins away for every man that is left in the tournament. In order to play for the Steve Davis Trophy on Sunday they have to win a semi-final match on Saturday.
We are up to the best of 11 frames for these semi-finals and the outside tables are done with now so you get the feeling the tournament is ready to go up a notch as it heads towards its conclusion over the weekend.
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Afternoon Session
Stuart Bingham vs Stephen Maguire
The opening semi-final is a clash between two men who are no strangers to making major finals and winning big tournaments when Stuart Bingham goes up against Stephen Maguire, with both looking for a spot in their first final of the season.
Bingham has looked really good in this tournament but the one thing you know about Maguire is he’ll lay down for nobody and the harder the challenge the more he gets his teeth into it and gives it a real good go so I think we are set for a cracking first match of the day.
My gut feeling is that Bingham wins this one just based on the power scoring he has shown this week but the beauty of this match is that those who are on our pre-tournament bets have tickets for both men so we can sit back and enjoy this one to see who will represent us in the final on Sunday without the need for another bet.
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Evening Session
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Mark Davis
Two veterans of the game meet in the second semi-final when the defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan takes on the local lad Mark Davis who is enjoying one of his best weeks in a 15 red ranking tournament.
O’Sullivan was tested for the first time this week in the quarter final when Luo Honghao laid it down to him and as many suspected when he needed to raise his game, the Rocket was more than capable of doing so. Davis should be respected on the grounds that he has beaten John Higgins and Ryan Day in the last two rounds but Higgins was waiting to be beaten by somebody and Day beat himself with tip issues.
The last four meetings between these two have seen 4-1, 5-1 and 4-1 wins for O’Sullivan and a 4-3 win for Davis at the Welsh Open last year but O’Sullivan led 3-0 in that match so Davis really struggles in this match up. I expect him to struggle here too and there’s enough mileage in the -3.25 asian line on O’Sullivan with history suggesting he can win this 6-2 or better.
Tips
Back R.O’Sullivan (-3.25 frames AH) to beat M.Davis for a 4/10 stake at 1.90 with Bet365
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