Gould, Trump, Bingham and O'Sullivan to contest Llandudno semi's

Martin Gould, Judd Trump, Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan are the four guys into the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix in Wales after they each had wins of varying difficulty in Friday's quarter-finals. The day started off with Mark Davis losing the first frame on the black to Stuart Bingham and failing to recover as he was whitewashed. That was followed up by a very high quality affair between Martin Gould and Peter Ebdon where there were good breaks in pretty much every frame, as Gould won three in a row after losing the opener and after Ebdon pulled one back, Martin sealed his last four place. In the evening Ronnie O'Sullivan was far from his best against Graeme Dott, but after Graeme failed to capitalise on his mistakes and level at 2-2, it was the UK Champion who was a comfortable winner in a match where he admitted neither player played well at all. Finally, the last match of the day was the best one between Mark Williams and Judd Trump, who had met twice within the last month prior to this with Williams winning both times. Mark seemed to be in a good position to do so again after winning a vital third frame on the black to lead 2-1, but Trump responded well to go 3-2 ahead. Mark forced a decider, and in that decider it went right down to the final colours. After an attempted double on the blue went wrong for the Welshman, he left it over the middle for Trump who cleared blue, pink and black to win the match.

Quarter-Final Results:

Martin Gould 4-2 Peter Ebdon
Judd Trump 4-3 Mark Williams
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Mark Davis
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Graeme Dott


As we head into the weekend then, and the semi-finals, the format increases to the best-of-11 frames with the usual interval after the first four and that gives the players more time to settle into what is a big occasion as they look to keep themselves in the running for the £100,000 first prize.

Semi-Final Draw:

Judd Trump Vs Martin Gould - These two guys have had to come through some tough matches so far this week, but at the same time they've played very well on a number of occasions. First off, Martin Gould was superb yesterday against Peter Ebdon and equally as good on Wednesday night against Mark Selby in those two 4-2 victories. He's scoring very well at the moment and earning himself plenty of good chances in matches by holding his own in the tactical battles, but he will need to all of that again today in an even bigger occasion, against another big opponent over a format that would probably suit Judd more than Martin. Judd hasn't quite been at his best all week long, but he's been doing exactly what has been required of him to win matches, showing signs of increased maturity and a much better snooker brain. He scored superbly to totally blitz Dominic Dale on Tuesday, before showing us more of his all-round game against the tougher opponents of Joe Perry and Mark Williams who pushed him very hard and forced him to play well in all areas. I'm sure Gould will push him similarly today, and force him to play in the same way again, so I think Trump will take the place in the final.

Prediction: Trump to win 6-3.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Stuart Bingham - Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan always have good games against each other and I expect this one to be no different. Stuart Bingham always pushes Ronnie hard, forcing him to play at his best or he'll be beaten. Stuart was 4-1 ahead of Ronnie in the UK semi's before losing 6-5 and he got the win against him in the same event at the quarter-final stage in 2013, shortly after narrowly losing 10-8 in the Champion of Champions final. He even led Ronnie 2-1 in the first round of this seasons Champion of Champions before three great breaks from O'Sullivan won that match 4-2. Neither player has quite been at their very best this week so far, and Ronnie seems to be struggling quite a bit mentally of later, and it just needs someone with a strong game and a strong head on the day to beat him, and I think Stuart fits that profile. Every time Bingham has come up against Ronnie in a tournament recently O'Sullivan has been playing well and while Bingham pushes him he simply can't get past. However, when Ronnie struggled at the 2013 UK's Bingham capitalised and I expect the same to happen today if Ronnie struggles again.

Prediction: Bingham to nick it 6-5.


We should have a brilliant day of snooker ahead then, and whatever happens I'm sure that we'll have a brilliant final tomorrow over two sessions and the best-of-19 frames, and i'll be back tomorrow morning with a quick preview of that one as well.