We are down to the semi-finals in the Welsh Open with both matches being played out across two sessions of play with the winners progressing to compete for the Ray Reardon Trophy in the final of the last Home Nations Event of the season.
We have two rank outsiders competing in one of the semi-finals and two men who would have expected to be at this stage of the tournament when the competition began in the other one so an interesting day is in store for us.
Afternoon Session
Elliot Slessor vs Martin O’Donnell
The afternoon session sees the two outsiders battling it out on what is the biggest day of their career so far as Elliot Slessor and Martin O’Donnell go at it over the best of 11 frames with the aim of reaching the first major final in their history.
Neither of these men have ever made a ranking event final of any kind so both won’t need telling that this is the best chance of a major breakthrough they have had, and that one like this might not come along again so both will be eager to make the most of it and finally get through to playing for a trophy. It has to be said neither are here by fluke. Both players have seen off some serious challengers this week. O’Donnell has taken care of Marco Fu and the world champion Luca Brecel in the last two rounds and generally played much more fluent snooker than we have seen him play in the past. Slessor saw off Ali Carter in the first round of the tournament and while the draw has leveled out for him a touch since then it hasn’t exactly got harder in this match in terms of the world rankings. O’Donnell has made a century in three of his four matches this week and when you consider he only had five centuries on the season coming in here it is a sign of how he has raised his game. I think he is the one to be on here because I think he is used to winning scrappy frames and matches and with the nerves and stuff that are bound to be around this could get scrappy quite quickly. Slessor tends to get on his own back when things around going right and as the higher ranked player he might feel under slightly more pressure to win here. Bookmakers can’t really split these two and that is perfectly understandable but I just fancy O’Donnell to hold it together the better.
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Evening Session
Gary Wilson vs John Higgins
Two men who are much more accustomed to playing big semi-finals meet in the second game of the day when the reigning Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson looks to continue his quest for successive Home Nations crowns when he faces John Higgins.
Higgins has made it through to the Welsh Open semi-final on seven previous occasions and each time he has gone on to make the final so that is a decent omen for him. Unfortunately though, Higgins has made four semi-finals this season and lost the lot, including in two of the three other Home Nations events. He has had a habit of letting big leads go in major matches this season too. Wilson looks to be buoyed by his win in the Scottish Open and he has reached this semi-final without losing a frame in his last two matches, dispatching Robert Milkins 4-0 and then Anthony McGill 5-0 so he should clearly be feeling good about his chances. We’ve seen Higgins feel the pressure in big matches over the last year or so and without taking anything away from the two men in the other semi-final, these two must be looking at this thinking this is their biggest obstacle to the title so that might be significant. Wilson held himself together in an epic semi-final with Zhou Yuelong on his way to Scottish Open glory and I’m hoping he can do that again here. That is because I’m on him at 16.5/1 to win this match having backed him before a ball was hit this week. I’ll let that ride as my interest in this semi-final.
Tips
Back M.O’Donnell to beat E.Slessor for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Unibet
