The second day of the semi-finals of the World Championship take place in the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Friday and by the end of it two men will be one session from a place in the final while the other semi-final will be halfway through its course.
Thursday recap
We were treated to some wonderful snooker on Thursday as the eyes focused on the one table left in use. Ding Junhui played the best stuff of all as he opened up a 6-2 lead over Alan McManus, who was out of luck in the session it must be said.
Ding hammered in four centuries and two more breaks over 50 in a really impressive performance and it goes without saying that McManus will have to find a way to stall the train throughout Friday where the two will play two sessions.
Marco Fu and Mark Selby were fairly evenly matched in the first session of their semi-final. Selby nabbed the last frame with a classy run of 69 to obtain a 5-3 lead but it wasn’t vintage Selby and from 3-0 down Fu probably isn’t too disappointed with the scoreline especially given the emotional rollercoaster he went through on Wednesday evening.
Friday preview
A 6-2 deficit isn’t the end of the world for Alan McManus in a first to 17 but he will want to win Friday’s play to be closer to the Chinese player heading into the conclusion of the match on Saturday. I don’t really see another angle to get involved in this match though especially with the possibility that Ding could run clear.
We’ve still not truly seen Mark Selby play well in this tournament and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that he won’t win the tournament playing at the level he is. In fact I’m not convinced he is going to win this match.
I expect some significant improvement from Fu on Friday after he has had the chance to get some good rest and by Saturday he should be back up to top form. If Ding does pull clear of McManus on Friday that should only further inspire Fu to come through and set up a historic all-Asian final which would be amazing for that part of the world.
I don’t see either man running away with this match. I never did hence why I took over in frames before a ball was struck in the match and I still don’t see either running away with it but the drift on Marco Fu is just about big enough to tempt me in particularly given the mileage I still see there being in the match.
Tips
Back M.Fu to beat M.Selby for a 2/10 stake at 4.33 with Bet365
Back him here:
