The semi-finals of the World Championship get underway inside the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Thursday when the opening session of each match forms the action as we move from two tables down to the one.
We have two players who were seeded to get to the semi-final meeting in one match and in the other two men who are tasting the one-table setup for the first time will meet in what is a huge opportunity for both.
Day 12 Recap
The quarter finals ended in quite a dramatic style on Wednesday with Mark Allen being the first man to make it into the one-table environment when he outlasted Jak Jones 13-10. Luca Brecel was the second man through when he produced a remarkable turnaround to come from 6-10 down to Ronnie O’Sullivan to beat him 13-10 winning all seven frames in the final session. Mark Selby thrashed John Higgins 13-7 and then the last player through was the Chinese qualifier Si Jiahui who took care of Anthony McGill in a deciding frame.
Luca Brecel vs Si Jiahui (Thursday 1pm, Friday 10am, Friday 7pm & Saturday 2.30pm)
Two men who hadn’t won a match at the Crucible Theatre when they arrived in Sheffield two weeks ago meet in the opening semi-final when one of Luca Brecel and Si Jiahui will make it through to the final on Sunday.
Brecel had a brilliant win in the quarter final, overturning a 10-6 deficit with an array of aggressive, attacking snooker in which he had O’Sullivan under pressure and didn’t let him back into the match. If he plays a seven frame period in this semi-final like the seven frames he played in the final session against O’Sullivan then Si Jiahui is going to have a problem. In saying that, the Chinese youngster looks perfectly tooled up to meet fire with fire. His long game has been extraordinary in this tournament and when he is in the balls he rarely looks like missing. Clearly there are going to be nerves around this match because this is the biggest contest in the career of both men but at some point they will settle down and I expect some heavy scoring to flow. For a best of 33 frame match the century line looks a little on the low side at 3.5 and even at 8/11 I can see that being covered.
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Mark Allen vs Mark Selby (Thursday 7pm, Friday 2.30pm, Saturday 10am & Saturday 7pm)
We know a Mark will be in the World Championship final and over the next three days we will find out which one it is when two of the best three players of the season meet as Mark Allen meets Mark Selby in what could be a Crucible classic.
In order for that to be the case Allen will need to come to the party with his best game but I sense in the last couple of rounds that getting to the one-table setup when he is in the form of his life was such a notch for Allen to polish off that it shackled him and now that he is here I expect him to let his arm go a little bit and we might see the best version of Allen. He will need to be at that level though because Selby looks like the man who has won this title four times. The positions he put John Higgins in during their quarter final was as ridiculous as it was relentless and if Allen allows himself to be controlled to that level then he is going to get eaten up. This is a fascinating battle but I would like to see how the first session plays out before getting involved just to see that Allen is letting his arm going and taking the match to Selby.
Tips
Back L.Brecel vs S.Jiahui – Over 3.5 centuries for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with Bet365
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