We already know that Xiao Guodong is in the final of the Champion of Champions and on Saturday evening his opponent will be confirmed when two left-handed superstars meet in the second semi-final as Neil Robertson takes on Mark Williams.
Both men beat a member of the top two in the world rankings in their group final to make it through to this last four clash and both will be well aware that the winner here will be favourite in the final so there is a huge opportunity for both.
Neil Robertson
Given that he missed the tournament last year having failed to win an event to get into the competition, I would imagine that Neil Robertson would have been motivated to do well when he arrived in Bolton this week. His quest probably wasn’t helped by the fact he landed himself in a ‘group of death’ which saw him having to see off two members of the top 10 in the world to get through but he reminded us that he belongs in that bracket.
Robertson had to really battle throughout the day, coming out on top in a deciding frame against Ali Carter before a real war of attrition against Judd Trump in the group final but those battles should have set him up nicely for this match, especially as he has had a couple of days to recover and prepare for this semi-final. The label thrown at him is he isn’t as good as he was a couple of years ago but he has the chance to dispel that theory here because at his pomp his record from this stage of a tournament onwards was incredibly good.
Mark Williams
Mark Williams keeps on saying that he cherishes these big tournament opportunities when they come along because he doesn’t know how many of them he is going to have left in his career and that certainly appears to have been the case so far this week when he reminded us why he is the Tour Championship title holder and why he was a ball or two away from winning a huge bounty at the Saudi Masters earlier in the campaign.
I think it is fair to say that Williams would have been expected to make the group final when we consider he went up against the women’s world champion Bai Yulu who was competing in a tournament of this kind for the first time. He did that but he was less expected to beat Kyren Wilson when he got there however he defied a terrible career record against the world champion to dispose of him and book his place in this semi-final and give himself a shot at another major title over the weekend.
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Head-to-head
Mark Williams will need to overcome another negative head to head record in this semi-final too as it is Neil Robertson who has a 13-3 advantage with one draw in their 17 career meetings. That advantage equates to 78-48 in the frame count which probably suggests that matches between the two are tighter than the overall record would suggest. Robertson has won the last seven meetings between these two players including their only previous battle at the Champion of Champions three years ago. This will be their fourth semi-final clash with Robertson leading 2-1 from the previous three. Robertson leads their past best of 11 matches 5-1 so history is very much on his side.
Betting
Neil Robertson has an excellent record against Mark Williams but this might be the time the Welshman turns the tables on the Australian. I say that because Robertson didn’t look all that fluent on Wednesday and while he can understandably suggest that the exertions of a deciding frame earlier in the day impacted his performance later in it, he suddenly isn’t used to playing in the big arenas at this stage of a tournament and if we don’t see the best of him here I would rather be on Williams at odds against.
Williams has said for a while that although he isn’t practicing and things that when he is on the practice table he is hitting the ball well and that was clearly the case on Tuesday when he took care of the world champion Kyren Wilson, making a 140 break in the process. Williams has been to the final of the Saudi Masters this season and won the Tour Championship at the end of last season so he has recent big match experience and feels the value in what might be another tight match in this tournament.
Tips
Back M.Williams to beat N.Robertson for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
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