The opening semi-final of the Champion of Champions takes place in Bolton on Friday night when the defending champion Mark Allen faces off against one of the form players in the season in Xiao Guodong for a spot in the final.
Both these men won their group from being 3-0 down in the final and will be looking to capitalise on that and earn themselves a shot at a big prize in the final on Sunday. This best of 11 clash should be high in quality.
Mark Allen
I think it is fair to say that Mark Allen hasn’t really had the season he would have wanted so far. Some of that might be down to the fact that he became world number one and that is a strong tag to carry around. He is a big time player now though and generally players in that bracket ensure that they come to the party in the events like this and therefore it is no surprise that Allen has made it through to a semi-final as he looks to make a successful defence of the title.
Allen came through his group in fairly routine fashion. He was favourite to come through that at the outset but when he fell 3-0 down to an out of form Jak Jones things were a little less straightforward. To his credit, he turned it around in fairly decent fashion but that was on Monday so it will be interesting to see if he can hit the ground running here. If he can he is entitled to be the favourite here if for no other reason than he has been here and done it.
Xiao Guodong
You kind of got the impression that everything from here on in this season is a bonus for Xiao Guodong and certainly heading into this tournament this was an opportunity on his schedule that he wouldn’t have expected. Even if he didn’t have those thoughts going into the competition he is entitled to have them now after twice escaping from 3-0 down in his group to make it through to this semi-final. To have done that against anyone would be significant but to do it against Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby should make him feel even better about himself.
Guodong is riding the crest of a wave at the minute. Last month he won the first title of his career and then he followed that up with a run to the semi-final of the International Championship, results which didn’t just get him in here and into the top 16 ahead of the UK Championship but will also most likely see him quality for The Masters and he will almost definitely be at the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and the Tour Championship so with significant earning potential sorted, he can attack this semi-final with real freedom.
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Head-to-head
These two men have played on six previous occasions outside of the Championship League and the Shootout and they are locked at three wins each. To further highlight how closely matched they are they have both won 21 frames in those matches too. Given that this is the tournament debut of Xiao Guodong, this will be the first time they will have met at the Champion of Champions and it is also their maiden semi-final against each other. They have met twice over the best of 11 frames with each player coming away with one win. What might be most significant is Guodong has won their last two meetings which were both in the last couple of months.
Betting
I think we are in for a cracking semi-final here and one which could very easily go close but whether it does or it doesn’t I think the value pick here has to be Xiao Guodong to come out on top. He went into the week in the better form of the two and has doubled down on that given that he has seen off a Ronnie O’Sullivan who meant business and a Mark Selby who has already won a big title this season. Allen came through his group but he was a huge favourite to beat Igor Figueiredo and a warm one to see off Jak Jones.
Guodong has caught fire in recent weeks. Since he turned up at the Saudi Masters where he reached the quarter final, he has beaten Allen twice, by scores of 5-1 and 6-2, and also prevailed against Lyu Haotian, Kyren Wilson, Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy, Si Jiahui, Ricky Walden and Jack Lisowski as well as the two wins he has already had this week. That is about as impressive a book of form as he could have and while that will end at some point, he is scoring so well when he gets the chances and his safety has been immaculate so it might not happen here. Allen has had an issue of starting matches slowly this season and against a free opponent if that happens here Xiao might not be for catching.
Tips
Back X.Guodong to beat M.Allen for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Coral
