After a thrilling quarter final day at the World Grand Prix in Llandudno we now know the four men who will do battle in the semi-finals and four high class snooker players they are too.
Both semi-finals will be played out on Saturday and we now leave the best of seven distance and move up to the best of 11 for a place in Sunday’s final.
Stuart Bingham vs Joe Perry
The opening match of the two sees the world champion Stuart Bingham in action as he takes on Joe Perry, a man who generally has had the better of him in their meetings.
Bingham came past Ryan Day 4-2 in the quarter final but there was a long period in that match where he was there for the taking but Day wasn’t clinical enough to take care of him and Bingham lives to fight another day.
Joe Perry has actually cruised through this draw so far losing just two frames in his three matches. He also has the highest break and the way he went after the match against Carter in the quarter final was good to see as sometimes I feel he can be a bit defensive. Like most sportsmen he looked better on the offensive.
I was siding with Perry for this match on form grounds from this week but it is always nice when a head to head record is so strong so even though Bingham is the world champion I sense this is Perry’s afternoon to come through. He looks big at odds against.
Shaun Murphy vs Ding Junhui
The second semi-final should be an absolute blockbuster between two of the better players in the world and two of the best to watch. Murphy cruised past Liang Wenbo in the previous round and looked good in doing it although it has to be said that the Chinese player didn’t exactly make it difficult for the former world champion.
Ding looked on the ropes at 3-1 down to Un-Nooh in the quarter final but the Thai didn’t have what it took to put Ding away and the longer the match went the better the Chinese star got and that bodes very well for him over this longer distance.
There isn’t much between these two in whichever way you look at this match be it their titles, their style or their previous meetings. Their last four meetings have had two 5-4s and two 6-4s so it is generally close when they meet and I’m expecting the same here.
Both have scored well this week while both have shown more of a weakness in the safety department as is their way so I’m expecting chances to come along quite regularly with a punch and then counter punch feel to it. When all is said and done I think we’ll have another 6-4/6-5 scoreline between these two.
Back J.Perry to beat S.Bingham for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with BetVictor
Back S.Murphy vs D.Junhui – Over 9.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Paddy Power
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