The quarter finals concludes and the first semi-final will be played on what should be a great day of snooker at the World Grand Prix on Friday as six players take to the baize looking to move a step closer to lifting the title.
We’ve seen plenty of shocks and surprises this week but we still have five ranking event finalists on show over the course of a day which sees the last two quarter finals being played in the afternoon ahead of the opening semi-final in the evening.
Afternoon Session
Judd Trump vs Xiao Guodong
The quarter final which will be on the main table on Friday afternoon sees The Masters champion Judd Trump taking on a man he has had a few issues with in the past in the one remaining Chinese player in the tournament in Xiao Guodong.
These two met twice towards the end of 2022 and while Trump won on both occasions he only won 6-5 and 4-2 which suggests that this might be closer than the odds would have it be. The caveat to that is that Trump didn’t finish 2022 very well but he is looking much better in 2023 especially since he twice escaped death at The Masters to go on and win the title. Guodong has the confidence of taking care of Neil Robertson and Ryan Day this week though and if Trump is slightly off his game the Chinese player knows he can go with him. I suspect this will be closer than thought but the sudden improvement in Trump puts me off getting involved.
Shaun Murphy vs Anthony McGill
While The Masters champion is in action on the main court the former winner of that tournament, Shaun Murphy, will be battling it out on table two when he goes up against Anthony McGill for a place in the semi-final.
Murphy is my one remaining outright bet in this tournament and I mentioned when I put him up forward for that position that he is sneakily playing well and better than his results suggest but he keeps on running into monster performances. He might have dodged a bullet here because McGill was superb in beating Sam Craigie on Thursday and very rarely in sport is one high level performance followed by another, especially by those below the very elite. Murphy has played well this week but you sense he hasn’t quite hit top gear and he’ll be hoping he moves through the levels in this match as this tournament could be there for the taking. I’m happy to leave this one alone and let my outright bet run for me.
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Evening Session
Mark Allen vs Noppon Saengkham
The first semi-final comes along in the evening session on Friday as we move up to the best of 11 frames when Mark Allen and Noppon Saengkham face each other at this stage of a second ITV tournament in succession.
They met at the British Open when Allen won 6-1 to move into the final and the Northern Irishman will be hoping for a repeat here. That was probably the last time we saw Allen at his very best and Saengkham was the unfortunate one in the firing line. The tables might be turned here because it is the Thai who looks in great form this week. He has beaten Mark Selby, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams to get to this stage and as long as he has enough in the well to go again at the very least he should make a much better fist of this match than he did in the British Open. To be fair to Saengkham, he wasn’t allowed a chance in that one. Allen doesn’t look like he is going to blow anyone away at the minute and if the Thai settles into the match early we should get a great contest. We saw on Thursday night that even without his best stuff Allen will adapt and give himself a chance to win so I do expect a close game here. There is an Asian total line of 9.25 at Bet365 which means we get half of our stake back for a 6-3 while still winning in full for 6-4 or 6-5. I like the over with that in mind.
Tips
Back M.Allen vs N.Saengkham – Over 9.25 frames for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Bet365
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