Judd came through the first semi-final early in the day against defending champion Stuart Bingham. It was a brilliant start to the match with 4 quick fire frames being shared as Trump took the first and fourth with runs of 95 and 100, while Bingham's contributions of 98 and 118 were sandwiched in between. At this stage it looked like this could go all the way, but after the interval Stuart lost his way. A break of 47 wasn't enough to win him the fifth and Trump cleared with 39 to steal the frame. He needed a couple of chances to win the sixth and at 4-2 he looked in control. After Judd countered with 62 following an early 48 from Stuart, he let Stuart back into the frame and the match at 3-4. That didn't last long though, as Judd dominated the eighth frame, breaks of 45 and 46 doing plenty in putting him one away from the final at 5-3. Stuart Bingham had a chance at the beginning of the ninth, but he pushed the boat out once too many, leaving Trump in to avenge his World Championship semi-final defeat, as a run of 62 won him the match 6-3.
Kyren Wilson meanwhile was very dominant in his semi-final against Mark Allen. The first frame saw him gradually work away a 54 point deficit to win the frame on the final black and move 1-0 ahead. He progressed that lead in frame two with a break of 73, while a 68 after earlier chances for Allen moved him 3-0 in front, halfway to his first major final. Mark had plenty of chances in frame four to put his first one on the board, but another colours clearance from Kyren saw him win the frame on the black again to lead 4-0 at the interval. There was still a job to do for Wilson after the break, and he set about it perfectly with a contribution of 60 doing the damage in frame 5 to go 5-0 in front, needing only one of the next 6 to reach the final. Mark managed to avoid the embarrassment of the whitewash, but it wasn't long before Kyren's big moment came, as a break of 30 levelled up the scores in frame seven before he finished it with a run of 50, to not just but beat Allen, but give him a real thrashing.
Final Preview
Judd Trump Vs Kyren Wilson - These two guys have been excellent this week, and are thoroughly deserving of their places in the best-of-19 frames final. The first thing I want to mention is that if Kyren does beat Judd in this final it will be the start of brilliant things for him. The run this week should secure his place in the World Grand Prix and if he were to win it would also move him into the top 32 from down in the 50's of the rankings where he started the week and get him into November's Champion of Champions. The only time he's really come close to being beaten this week was against Ding Junhui whom he beat 5-4. Otherwise he boasts a 5-2 win against Perry, a 5-1 win against Holt and a 6-1 win against Allen, all quality, experienced players. Can he make it one more to win the event? Absolutely. In my view he's been the best player this week by quite a way of anyone else at times. He's showed no fear and plenty of bottle so far, and if he gets himself into a winning position, he'll obviously be nervous like any player would be, but I don't believe he'd bottle it or throw it away. Judd Trump though will certainly not take it for granted that he will win, just because Kyren is has never made a final before in his professional career. He's experienced enough by now to know that he should play the same way against everyone and I believe that he hasn't quite been at his best this week. His match against Milkins was a breeze and he could easily have been beaten by Matt Selt, whilst Mark Williams didn't take the chances that he had. However, he has improved through the week with his best performance coming today against Bingham, but I still believe he's not a certainty to win this one tomorrow. The key to this match is going to be whether Wilson shows more nerves at the start and end of the match if he gets in a good position, or whether he takes his chances and plays in the same fearless manner as the rest of the week. At times this week I wondered whether he was going to be able to keep his run going and he has answered those questions emphatically.Prediction: Wilson to win his first ranking event with a thrilling 10-9 win.
I'm sure it will be a cracking final either way and it's just a shame it won't be shown live on Eurosport, so you'll have to wait for the highlights later on or find some kind of stream on the internet. Otherwise, the next you'll hear from me on the blog is my stat attack round-up of what we've seen during this weeks tournament.
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