It is semi-final Saturday at the Northern Ireland Open inside the Waterfront Hall in Belfast as the four remaining players battle it out over the best of 11 frames for a spot in the latest Home Nations final and a shot at the Alex Higgins Trophy.
We’ve got two seasoned winners who have made it through to the last four and they both meet dangerous outsiders so it will be interesting to see if experience prevails or if someone is about to make a huge breakthrough.
Afternoon Session
Pang Junxu vs Kyren Wilson
The opening semi-final of the competition sees the world champion Kyren Wilson looking to make it through to another Home Nations final and a first in Northern Ireland when he meets the Chinese player Pang Junxu who will be looking to book his spot in a maiden final in this series.
Pang overcame the challenge of Neil Robertson in the quarter final where he held himself together very well and got better the longer the match went on. That certainly bodes well for him here because the format increases for this semi-final. Pang has been to a ranking event final before so he shouldn’t suffer with nerves or anything like that. Wilson cut a very confident figure in his quarter final against Mark Williams and he claimed he struggles in these Home Nations events until the last eight because his concentration goes wayward. He has nothing to distract him here so you would think that Wilson will be tough to stop in this match as he looks to book a spot in a second final of the campaign after he won the Xi’an Grand Prix earlier in the season. Pang won their only previous proper ranking event match and you get the feeling that he isn’t going to do down without a fight here. Wilson won’t either so over 9.5 frames looks a heavy runner in a match which could easily get a bit scrappy.
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Evening Session
Judd Trump vs Elliot Slessor
The second semi-final might be the weaker of the two on paper but it is the one which will have all of my interest as it contains my 200/1 outright bet Elliot Slessor, who could secure the 100/1 place part of that bet if he can end the title defence of Judd Trump.
That isn’t going to be easy because generally when Trump gets to this stage of a tournament he goes on and wins it. His performance against Shaun Murphy in the quarter final was the best we’ve seen this week from him and if he can maintain that level he should have more than enough in the tank to come through here but if there is a drop off then Slessor could take advantage. This isn’t the first semi-final that Slessor has been in either here or in a ranking event. Slessor lost out to Mark Williams here in 2017, to Gary Wilson at the British Open in 2021 and the one that got away was in the Welsh Open back in February when Martin O’Donnell got the better of him in a deciding frame. Slessor has already beaten Ali Carter and Kyren Wilson this season so he doesn’t fear the big names but he’ll need to settle and start well to have any chance in this one. Trump leads 5-1 on the head-to-head but at least Slessor knows he can beat Trump. I’m hoping there is an upset here and that I can go into the final holding a ticket for a 200/1 play.
Tips
Back P.Junxu vs K.Wilson – Over 9.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Sky Bet
