The second semi-final of the Cazoo Tour Championship takes place inside the Celtic Manor Resort on Saturday when for the third time in this Cazoo Series we see Barry Hawkins and Ronnie O’Sullivan battling it out.
These two met last of the World Grand Prix and the semi-final of the Players Championship with O’Sullivan progressing on both occasions so it will be interesting to see if it is third time lucky for Hawkins or whether O’Sullivan maintains his dominance.
Barry Hawkins
There is no doubt that Barry Hawkins is much improved on the version of him we saw 18 months ago. Whether he is the player that made the World Championship final and had other big runs at the Crucible Theatre remains to be seen but the more snooker he plays the better he is likely to get and experience will tell us that leading into the World Championship is generally the time in the season when he plays his best snooker. He might well need his best snooker here however.
One thing which should give Hawkins plenty of confidence and belief that he can dispose of the world champion here is the way he dealt with the world number one Judd Trump in the quarter final. It might be that Trump didn’t have his best game with him but we’ve seen him play a lot worse than he did against Hawkins and come out on top in matches this season. Hawkins tends to save his best for the longer format matches, something else which will give him plenty of belief here.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
It feels like so long ago since Ronnie O’Sullivan opened up this tournament with a fine win over John Higgins that he could be forgiven for wondering whether this is still the same event. It is though and he remains unbeaten in it having won it two years ago and not qualifying for his title defence last season. Like all great players O’Sullivan thrives in the longer matches when he knows he has the time to get up to speed and play his way into a match.
O’Sullivan also knows that three weeks after this semi-final he will be starting his defence of the world title so we should expect his game to elevate each time we see him between now and then. It was pretty good to begin with against Higgins and if he just tightens up his long game then he is entitled to be very tough to beat. We know O’Sullivan has no problem getting himself up for these elite tournaments so we should expect to see something like the best version of him.
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Head to Head
These two men have met in 16 past occasions and to say that O’Sullivan has the edge would be something of an understatement. He has won 14 of those meetings to the two of Hawkins and it is every bit as emphatic in the frame count as well where O’Sullivan leads 124 to 76. You have to go back six meetings and five years for the last time Hawkins beat O’Sullivan but it was a famous victory as it was in the deciding frame of a World Championship last 16 match. Hawkins has not fared much better in semi-finals against the great man. They have played five semi-finals in the past and O’Sullivan has won the lot. If history is anything to go by this is a no contest.
Betting
Backing centuries hasn’t been the path to success in this tournament but I’ve a feeling we might see an avalanche of them here. O’Sullivan hit two in his first round win over Higgins and missed a straight black for a third while Hawkins had a ton against Trump and missed a yellow off its spot when on 90 with the rest of the colours remaining to stop him getting another. These are two of the more accomplished break builders in the game and they’ve had a game under their belt so I expect the scoring to be spot on.
Hawkins might not beat O’Sullivan very often but there aren’t many meetings where he doesn’t contribute to the ton count. We don’t have a lot of previous form to go on that is relevant here although their last two session match saw four centuries which feels like it might mean something. I expect O’Sullivan to go up a notch now that his two main nemesis have departed the competition and however they come I expect four tons here.
Tips
Back Over 3.5 centuries for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
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