The first semi-final of the Tour Championship takes place inside the Bonus Arena in Hull on Friday as two of the best players in the game battle it out for a spot in the final when Ding Junhui meets Kyren Wilson.
Both men had good wins in their quarter final and now have the chance to make it through to the final of the tournament before the World Championship and come out with the ultimate confidence boost to take to the Crucible Theatre.
Ding Junhui
The Chinese star Ding Junhui headed to Hull this week looking to achieve two things – win the tournament and qualify for the World Championship. It was thought that Ding would need to reach the final here to achieve the latter but the defeat of Ryan Day on Thursday means that the former world finalist will automatically qualify for the final event of the season, which means he can free up a little and focus on this match.
Ding played well in the opening round but I think it is fair to say that Mark Allen wasn’t at the races for whatever reason. Nevertheless, Ding scored well throughout the match and didn’t really give Allen a route back into the match. There was certainly an air of confidence about Ding throughout that match which is understandable when you consider that he recently won the Six Red World Championship. A repeat of that will have him tough to beat here.
Kyren Wilson
It wasn’t the best scoring display of the career of Kyren Wilson in his win over Ali Carter but he did more than enough to get the job done and when you consider what he has been going through away from the table with his family in recent times it is very much to his credit that he played as well as he did. He’ll be looking for a repeat of that performance, if not a slightly better one and if he can tidy up his scoring just a touch he’ll be in business.
The big thing for Wilson in that opening round was winning it. He hadn’t won a match in the competition prior to it and most of his best form had come much earlier in the season so he was able to show that he is playing well here. Admittedly Ali Carter made it a little easier for him than expected but that isn’t a problem for Wilson. He can only beat what is in front of him and he did that very well given the circumstances.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for this tournament! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Head-to-head
These two have met on 12 previous occasions and they are locked together with six wins each. Things are much clearer on the frame count though where Ding Junhui is 55-47 in front which suggests his wins are by a much bigger margin than those of Wilson. This will be the first time they have met in a semi-final of any kind which is a bit of a surprise but they have met in two previous two-session matches. They have a win apiece with the Wilson win coming in the World Championship first round last season which was their last meeting. Ding won the China Open final between the two in 2017.
Betting
Bookmakers can’t split these two players and I think that is fair enough because there wasn’t too much between them in their opening matches and I do expect a really good battle here given what is on the line. I don’t need to bet on the outcome of this match though because I am effectively on Wilson at a shade over 2/1 having backed him outright and obviously if he wins here he brings the place part of that bet home.
I will go with one bet on the other markets though and that is for Ding Junhui to have the highest break in this match. Wilson made an excellent 137 in the second frame of his win over Carter but I felt the better work in the balls was done by Ding in his win over Mark Allen and his tidier cue ball control can see him to do the better scoring here while Wilson will come out on top in the majority of the tactical battles. I do expect this to get tense which makes me edge with Wilson but I’ll go with the better scorer in Ding to have the highest break.
Tips
Back D.Junhui Highest Break for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2023
