We are at the semi-final stage of the Wuhan Open with both matches taking place across a couple of sessions out in China on Friday where by the end of the day we will know the identity of the two men who will play for the title on Saturday.
Three Chinese players have made it through to the last four and there is a sole Englishman looking to deny the home crowds of a local winner. Two outsiders compete in one semi-final while two more fancied opponents meet in the other.
Afternoon Session
Long Zehuang vs Xiao Guodong
The opening semi-final sees two Chinese players meeting over the best of 11 frames when the rank outsider Long Zehuang takes on the more experienced Xiao Guodong with this potentially being a huge couple of days for one of these two men.
Both men came through against higher ranked opponents in the quarter final for the loss of just the one frame with Zehuang seeing off Jack Lisowski while Guodong took care of Shaun Murphy. Guodong was incredibly impressive in that match. He opened it with three successive tons and a 75 before getting the job done in the sixth frame. Zehuang was solid enough against Lisowski but nothing to the level of Guodong and when you fancy that Xiao is much more experienced at this stage of a ranking event I think it is hard to go against him in this match. Guodong has taken care of three successive top 16 players whereas Zehuang is yet to face one so one has had a genuine route through to this semi-final and the other has had a draw which has opened right up for him. Credit to Long for taking advantage of that but if we go back a couple of weeks to the English Open, we saw two one-sided semi-finals with players not used to this stage of a tournament not settling and being well beaten. I have to think Xiao to cover a 1.5 frame handicap is the way to play this one.
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Evening Session
Judd Trump vs Si Jiahui
The other semi-final features two men who are much more established at this stage of major events battling it out when the defending champion Judd Trump takes on the next highest ranked player left in the tournament in Si Jiahui.
Trump could be forgiven for wondering how he is still in this tournament after Chris Wakelin missed a simple brown to knock him out in the quarter final. He did win though and generally when he gets to this stage of a tournament he is very good at managing his way to the title, whether he plays well in the semi-final and the final or not. You would imagine Trump will need to play well here because Si Jiahui is a class act and he has already seen off Zhang Anda but it has to be said his record against Trump is bang ordinary. I suspect that is down to the fact that Trump can put Si in awkward positions with his safety and while the Chinese player is improving in that department, he still isn’t where Trump is in it. Trump can win matches of this magnitude with his B and C game. I don’t see Si Jiahui able to do that and that might be the difference here. I’ve no strong opinion either way though and there is nothing in the odds that force me in so I’ll leave this one alone.
Tips
Back X.Guodong (-1.5 frames) to beat L.Zehuang for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
