It is semi-final Saturday at the Wuhan Open and for the four men left in the tournament it is a day where they can not only earn themselves a few quid but also do good things for their ranking and open the door up to the bigger events to come this season.
We have two seasoned campaigners at this level of a major tournament and two home players who are looking to make this the biggest week of their career and announce themselves as leading lights in the game so Saturday is nicely set up.
Afternoon Session
Wu Yize vs Judd Trump
The first semi-final sees the man who is on an excellent winning run over the last couple of weeks in Judd Trump going up against a home player who will be competing in his first match at this stage of a ranking event in Wu Yize.
Trump is kind of dispelling all logic this week as he really should be fading now having played flat out for two weeks in two very different countries but if anything he looks to be getting stronger and a 5-0 thrashing of Tom Ford in the quarter final only further strengthens that claim. Wu Yize has had to battle hard to reach this semi-final stage and you would imagine that might well catch up with him here. If that doesn’t catch him out then the fact that this is a first semi-final in his career might well do. Wu Yize started slowly against Aaron Hill in the quarter final. To his credit he was able to turn it around but you suspect if he lets Trump get out in front there will be no pulling him back. I find it hard to see beyond a Trump win here but the odds are fully reflective of that so I’ll leave this opening semi-final alone.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for this tournament! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Evening Session
Ali Carter vs Lyu Haotian
The second semi-final sees the German Masters winner Ali Carter looking to make it through to a third final in 2023 when he takes on a Lyu Haotian who will be aiming to go through to a second career ranking event final.
Both these men have played some good stuff over the course of the week and fully deserve to be in this semi-final. Carter has seen off the likes of Stuart Bingham and Mark Allen, the former from 4-1 down which might make him feel like he is free rolling for the remainder of the week. Haotian has seen off the finalist of last week in Zhang Anda and then doubled down by beating Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter final, where he held himself together very well. Haotian has also beaten Ben Mertens and Chris Wakelin this week and only dropped six frames against the four opponents. This semi-final is setup to be a cracker between two men in great form who are going to battle hard given what is on the line and I like over 9.5 frames here. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see these two needing a deciding frame to be separated but 6-4 either way is the worst I see the score being.
Tips
Back A.Carter vs L.Haotian – Over 9.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.15 with 888sport
Back it here:
