We have reached the semi-finals of the Northern Ireland Open which means that we are down to one table for the remainder of the tournament so the competition is set to go up a notch on what should be a good day of action on Saturday.
The first semi-final is one of the big battles of the modern time while the second one is a fascinating clash of contrasting experiences which we seem to get every tournament in these Home Nations events.
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Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Mark Selby
The afternoon semi-final sees the number one ranked player in the world in Mark Selby taking on the man who is widely recognised as the best player around today in Ronnie O’Sullivan in what should be a corking contest.
Nobody has touched O’Sullivan this week even though he has been nowhere near his best and in truth only really Thepchaiya Un-Nooh has got anywhere near Selby, who has adopted an attacking approach and has looked good for it. It will be interesting to see if he keeps that style or reverts back to his tight play against the best in the game.
Whichever style Selby adopts I think we’re in for a wonderful semi-final here and I don’t see either man winning this one easily. Selby scraps as hard as anyone while O’Sullivan always has his best with him against the top men. Over 9.5 frames looks the way forward in this one.
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Eden Sharav vs Judd Trump
The second semi-final sees Eden Sharav, competing in his first match at this stage of a ranking event, taking on the multi-tournament winner Judd Trump for a place in Sunday’s final. It goes without saying that Trump is an overwhelming favourite but some big names have underestimated the Israel man this week and paid the price.
These two meet for the second time this season with Trump beating Sharav 5-3 in a qualifier for one of the Chinese events earlier in the campaign. That was the only time Sharav has taken frames off Trump though and there is no doubt the Englishman is playing much better now than he was then. If this match was earlier in the week a case might have been made for Sharav staying close but the fact is he only has one break over 70 in his last three matches.
If Sharav is to have any chance of even just being competitive he has to score in this semi-final. If Trump starts getting two or three chances a frame he’ll run away with this. The form he has showed this week he clearly won’t need that many chances so I’ve got to think he’ll win this handily and no worse than 6-2 but with the Asian handicap being 3.25 frames which means we only lose half on a 6-3 I’ll take that line on for a bit of extra security.
Tips
WON – Back R.O’Sullivan vs M.Selby – Over 9.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
Back it here:
HALF LOSS – Back J.Trump (-3.25 frames AH) to beat E.Sharav for a 4/10 stake at 1.85 with Bet365
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