The semi-finals of the Champion of Champions gets underway on Friday evening when the Mattioli Arena opens its doors to the world number one and the world champion when Judd Trump meets Zhao Xintong for a place in the final.
Both men came through their groups at the beginning of the week with Trump having the smoother route through but both looked in really good order so there is no reason to think that we are in for anything other than a cracking semi-final.
Judd Trump
We didn’t know exactly what to expect from Judd Trump heading into the week. He hasn’t won a tournament this calendar year which is unlike him and that is an obvious sign that things might not be running smoother in the camp of the ‘Ace in the Pack’. As the week has gone on the excellent coverage that ITV provide has allowed us the insight into the fact that his brother, so key to the Trump work ethic, hasn’t been able to join the world number one out in Dubai where he now resides and things are beginning to make a little more sense.
With all that in mind, credit should go to Trump for making it out his group. He was an overwhelming favourite to do it once Shaun Murphy suffered his demise in the group semi-final but he still had to win the two matches and he won them with an assurance that suggests that he is more comfortable with his game. There is no doubt that this is a tougher test than either of those matches were but you get the feeling that Trump will relish the challenge and rise to the task.
Zhao Xintong
It had been a bit of a quiet season for the world champion Zhao Xintong until recently. That probably isn’t too much of a surprise. Whoever it was who was the first winner from China at the Crucible Theatre was always going to be elevated to superstardom and dealing with that was always going to take a few months to adjust to that new status. There were positive signs at the International Championship that the Zhao who won in Sheffield was coming to the boil and he has continued that momentum this week.
When Xintong arrived in Leicester, there were questions over potential jetlag after he was still involved in the International Championship as recently as last Friday, but also over the group he was in given that he was mixing it with Mark Allen, Kyren Wilson and Jack Lisowski. He saw off the first two names to make it out of the group and he did it with a confident look and a passage of play that reminded us of his World Championship win and he is entitled to feel like he is the favourite to lift this title as a result.
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Head-to-head
These two men have actually only met twice in the career which is a bit of a surprise given that Zhao Xintong was towards the top of the game at the time that his ban came around. They have a win each and on the frame count it is 8-5 to the Chinese star so his win was much more emphatic than the Judd Trump one. This will be their first meeting at the Champion of Champions, the first time they will have played each other in a semi-final and their first battle over the best of 11 frames so whether we can take anything from their past meetings is subject to debate.
Betting
I’m a little surprised that bookmakers have Judd Trump as the clear favourite for this match. I could understand it if they had it a pick ‘em but for me Zhao Xintong is the one to be on here, especially at the prices. Trump came through his group with plenty in hand on Monday but he didn’t face anyone you would have expected him to be challenged by. That wasn’t the case for Xintong. Mark Allen and Kyren Wilson represented tough challenges to the world champion but he overcame them.
Xintong showed in the International Championship that he is starting to come good again. He took care of Si Jiahui and Mark Selby out there before running into the eventual winner Wu Yize and then he has seen off Kyren Wilson here so he is building up a bank of form which is encouraging. Best vs best here you would side with Trump, although there still isn’t as much in it as there would need to be to justify the prices, but Trump isn’t firing on all cylinders and so I like the world champion here.
Tips
Back Z.Xintong to beat J.Trump for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
Back him here:
