The last of the quarter finals and the opening semi-final takes place at the Players Championship on Friday when four men take to the baize again to look to further their progress in the second Players Series event of the campaign.
The last quarter final offers up the action in the afternoon session on Friday and then all eyes will turn to the semi-final in the evening where the first spot in the final will be earned, so we’re in for a great day of snooker.
Afternoon Session
Zhang Anda vs John Higgins
The last quarter final of the competition looks like being a close and fascinating contest as one of the best players of the season so far in Zhang Anda takes on a player whose record in this tournament is very good in John Higgins.
Surprisingly, this is the first time these two have met, which when you consider how long Zhang has been around for, albeit at the lower levels until this term, is a very weird proposition and it will be interesting to see how the Chinese player stands up to a legend of the game. We regularly see the Chinese struggle against Ronnie O’Sullivan because the aura and iconic history of the Rocket is in their head before the cue ball is struck, but one man who doesn’t follow that pattern is Zhang. Therefore, if Higgins is going to come through this one he is going to need to play something like his best stuff. We are beginning to see that from him though so I wouldn’t be surprised if Higgins has the number of his man here. I hope that is the case because he is my outright pick this week and I’m happy to let that ride as my interest in this one.
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Evening Session
Ali Carter vs Mark Allen
The opening semi-final of the competition takes place on Friday night as the Wuhan Open and The Masters finalist Ali Carter goes up against the Champion of Champions winner Mark Allen in what should be a cracking contest.
These two men met at The Masters last month where Carter won 6-3 but the game of Allen looked in ordinary shape then but he seems to have found something in the meantime. He has looked good at the German Masters and the Welsh Open, where it needed John Higgins in decent touch to stop him on both occasions, and then here he opened the week with three centuries and played really well. To be fair to Carter, he has looked good enough all season but while I did think he was just taking a downturn in his form since The Masters he played well against Tom Ford in the first round here and came out on top in the right moments against Judd Trump in the quarter final. This is a big match for Carter as he would all but guarantee his spot at the big money event in Saudi Arabia with a win here but I’ve a feeling he will come up short here. The edge on the Carter scoring has just come off his game at the minute whereas Allen looks back to his best in and around the pink and black spot. I fancy Allen to reverse the result from Alexandra Palace and claim his place in the final with a bit to spare here.
Tips
Back M.Allen (-1.5 frames) to beat A.Carter for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Bet365
