The second semi-final of the Tour Championship makes up the menu for the Thursday action in the penultimate tournament of the campaign and we have a cracking contest to look forward to as we finalise the line up for the final on Friday.
Mark Selby takes on Mark Allen for the right to face either Judd Trump or Stephen Maguire in the final and with both men having shown signs of hitting their groove in the quarter final, there is no reason not to expect another great game here.
The Format
There are only seven matches in this tournament with the quarter finals and semi-finals being played over two sessions of action and the best-of-17 frames. The final was due to be the only match of the season outside of the World Championship to be the best-of-25 frames with the winner being crowned over three sessions, however the social distancing and health measures that are in place mean that the final on Friday will just be the best of 19 frames.
Where to watch
The entire match can be watched live on ITV4 in the UK. The coverage for the first session begins at 1.20pm and then the second session gets underway at 6.50pm.
Mark Selby
Experience proved to be the order of the day for Mark Selby in his quarter final against Yan Bingtao. The early stages suggested that the Chinese ace was going to lay down a real challenge but the longer the match went on the better Selby got, and the more he used his nous to create doubt in the mind of his opponent. Once he got a significant advantage there was never really the feeling that he was going to let it go it must be said.
You still wouldn’t say it was the best or most complete performance known to man by Selby so he is probably going to have to go up a notch or two here, but you would expect performance levels to improve naturally game by game as the cue arm gets going again and the competitive juices are revived. Selby will certainly have to score better if he is going to come through here but he has all the necessary experience of negotiating these two session matches.
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Mark Allen
Mark Allen is in a great position going into this semi-final because he knows that whatever Mark Selby throws at him in the match he can’t possibly produce what Shaun Murphy did in Allen’s quarter final. Murphy made six centuries and that still wasn’t enough to beat Allen, who visibly got better when the gauntlet was laid down to him. There is more to come from Allen for sure but what he delivered in his quarter final might well be enough here.
The one thing we know about Allen is that he is always going to be great among the balls. He has a touch which is natural and never leaves him. What he will naturally improve on as time goes by is his tactical game and when that comes it will be the complete package. Allen has made reference to the fact that he doesn’t think he has played very well this season so he is motivated to do well here and take some form into the World Championship and a player with something to prove is often a dangerous one.
Head to Head
There are not many players who have a better head to head record against Mark Selby but Mark Allen is one of them. These two have met on 11 previous occasions and Allen has come out on top in six of them. Their matches are generally tight clashes, evidenced by Allen only leading 59-55 on the frame count. They have met twice this season and have a win each. Selby won 6-5 in the semi-final of the English Open in an absolute classic while Allen got his revenge in the quarter final of the Champion of Champions, coming out on top 6-2. This will be their fourth semi-final and Allen holds a 2-1 lead from the previous three. Selby has won their only previous two session match.
Betting
I am already on Mark Allen at a shade bigger than 4/1 to win this match given that I backed him outright and given that I think he will come out on top I’m happy to let that investment ride, however there is a perfectly sensible bet to get stuck into in this semi-final, which comes in the form of the total frames market where the 14.5 line looks very much on the low side based on the previous meetings between these two.
They have played 11 times in their careers and eight of them have gone to a deciding frame. A lot of those outings have been over the best of 11 so were this match to go 6-5 to someone then we would get three chances for the player with five frames to his name to win a sixth frame to bring the over in. Both these men are known for their bottle and fighting instinct and when you factor in what is at stake here you’ve got to think both men will be giving this their absolute all and won’t go down without a fight. That makes me think the over is a good thing here.
Tips
Back Over 14.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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