The Champion of Champions has reached the semi-final stage now with both matches being played over the best of 11 frames at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry on Saturday.
The opening match sees two friends and practice partners going against each other as Joe Perry takes on Neil Robertson while the second semi-final sees Kyren Wilson taking on Mark Allen for the third major tournament in a row.
Joe Perry saw off John Higgins in the group final to book his spot in this semi-final and having come from 5-4 down to beat arguably the hardest player in the game to beat he’s entitled to fear nothing else in this tournament.
Neil Robertson was probably expecting to face Shaun Murphy in his group final but instead he came up against the 15-year old Yan Bingtao. Robertson won 6-3 in the end but there was a period in that match when Yan came from 4-1 to 4-3 when the Australian looked anything but comfortable.
I still don’t think Robertson is in much form and if he had played Murphy in the group final he might not be here to tell the story. He has a really good record over his good friend but they’ve not met since the Wuxi Classic final at the beginning of last season.
The dynamic of their battle has changed now. Perry is a tournament winner and going from strength to strength while Robertson is just off the top of his game. At the prices I think the Gentleman is a very attractive price to dispose of his Australian pal.
This will be the third time Wilson and Allen will have met over the best of 11 frames in the last two months. Wilson won their first meeting 6-1 in the semi-final of the Shanghai Masters while Allen got some revenge for that when he won 6-3 in the International Championship.
Kyren Wilson was the first man to book his spot in these semi-finals. He came past Judd Trump in his first match and then took care of Zhou Yuelong in the group final to continue his excellent season so far.
Mark Allen came through the group of death on Friday and it has to be said he came through it with a fair bit in hand too. He saw off Barry Hawkins 4-2 in his first match and then powered past Stephen Maguire in the group final with a barrage of solid scoring and reliable safety play.
Both men have shown good form this week but you would think this could be like a new tournament for Wilson having played his group on Tuesday. Allen will be nicely warmed up having played on Friday and that could be worth a frame or two to the Northern Irishman. That could well be the difference in the end here.
Back J.Perry to beat N.Robertson for a 3/10 stake at 3.10 with Sportingbet
Back M.Allen (-1.5 frames) to beat K.Wilson for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Ladbrokes
Blog snooker YTD: +111.20pts
