The semi-finals of the Xi’an Grand Prix takes place out in China on Saturday as four men play out over the best of 11 frames for the right to battle it out for the biggest ranking prize of the season so far in the final on Sunday.
Three of the four semi-finalists are expected to be at this stage of the tournament but we do have a surprise package among them as well. We’re guaranteed a high quality semi-final and one with potentially a huge story.
Kyren Wilson vs Ronnie O’Sullivan
The opening semi-final of the day is the pick of the two on paper as the current world champion Kyren Wilson takes on the former winner of the world title in Ronnie O’Sullivan in a mouth-watering last four clash to get the day up and running.
Wilson has made it through to the last four of the first real ranking event of the season as he looks to build on his world title success back in May. I don’t think he has been completely fluent and certainly not as assured as he was in Sheffield but given that he is playing with a new found status his week has been very acceptable and a victory here would really send out a statement that unlike Luca Brecel, Wilson is quite happy to be the hunted. O’Sullivan has been much stronger in the way he has made it to the semi-final, although it has to be said that the draw has been kind. He was taken the distance in the quarter final by Matthew Selt but aside from that it has largely been a stroll for ‘The Rocket’. This should be a cracking semi-final because both men are experienced in winning big games like this and I would expect to see some of the best snooker from both players. I get the impression that O’Sullivan fancies the job this week. His telltale sign is usually when he talks about winning rather than babbling on with all the other nonsense he comes out with and he spoke about winning things in his post-match interview after his quarter final win. Wilson would probably need to be close to his best to beat O’Sullivan when the Rocket fancies it and I’m not sure we’re there yet. I think Ronnie wins this with a little bit in hand.
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Judd Trump vs Daniel Wells
The second semi-final on Saturday is a bit of a David vs Goliath match as Judd Trump looks to continue his unbeaten run in China having won the Shanghai Masters when he goes up against Daniel Wells who will be in the biggest match of his career here.
This will be the third ranking semi-final of the Wells career but in terms of potential earnings it is by far the biggest and it will be interesting to see how he copes with that. Nobody can suggest that he doesn’t deserve to be here though. He beat Ali Carter in qualifying and then out in China he has seen off Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Barry Hawkins among others so he has to be hitting the ball nicely. Trump looks in really good touch though. Lyu Haotian, Jak Jones and Dave Gilbert have been dispatched for the loss of a combined four frames in the last two rounds and that is ominous for Wells in this one. Wells did win the last meeting between the two at the Welsh Open but this feels like a different story entirely. Trump is a 1/7 favourite and generally a 3.5 frame favourite as well and while it is hard to argue with that, those are prices and lines which don’t really interest me, although I’m in no rush to oppose either.
Tips
Back R.O’Sullivan (-1.5 frames) to beat K.Wilson for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with William Hill
Back him here:
