The Players Championship continues in Telford on Friday where two more matches take place in the second Players Series event of the season with the last of the quarter finals and the opening semi-final making up the schedule.
We have three world champions and arguably one of the players of the season on show throughout Friday so although we might only have two matches the quality should be high, especially with the prizes on offer.
Afternoon Session
Xiao Guodong vs John Higgins
The afternoon session will see the last of the quarter finals being played out when the one remaining Chinese player left in the tournament, Xiao Guodong, goes up against the former champion of this event in the form of John Higgins.
Both these men have won titles in China this season. Guodong won the Wuhan Open while recently Higgins won the World Open and both deservedly won those titles. They both came through deciding frame battles in the opening round but now that both have got their teeth into the tournament we should expect them both to play well. That makes me think that this one will be a close match. This match has Tour Championship implications. If Higgins wins it then he will miss the first round of that tournament and go straight into the semi-final but if Xiao wins it then he would be a win away from having that luxury himself. Matches between these two tend to be tight too. Even in the Championship League they have played out a lot of 3-2s and I don’t really see either running away with this. While both have had good seasons, you would struggle to argue that they see off opposition comfortably as often as they would want. This has a 6-4 or 6-5 feel all over it to me and so the even money on that scoreline happening looks perfectly acceptable to me.
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Evening Session
Neil Robertson vs Kyren Wilson
The evening session is made up by the opening semi-final of the tournament where the World Grand Prix winner takes on the reigning world champion Kyren Wilson in what should be a blockbuster of a last four clash with the winner going through to the final on Sunday.
Robertson has seen off Stuart Bingham and Mark Selby this week but both have coughed up chances you would expect them to snaffle against him. Nevertheless, Robertson has been controlled enough to win through and given the winning run he is on after winning the World Grand Prix he is entitled to be a big danger here. Wilson has seen off two elite players in Mark Allen and Mark Williams. I think it is fair to say that neither are anywhere near their best at the minute, certainly given the visual issues Williams is having, but Wilson has had a ruthless streak this week. I think this will be a top quality semi-final between two men who are accustomed to competing at this level of a big event. Bookmakers have these 10/11 each of two in places so it is a pick ‘em match which feels fair enough. If I had to pick a winner I’d go Wilson but it really is 50:50 and we’re not getting an above even price so I’ll just take a watching brief on this one.
Tips
Back X.Guodong vs J.Higgins – Over 9.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Boylesports
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