Today's big Welsh Open finale will be contested by Judd Trump and Stuart Bingham after they secured comprehensive semi-final victories on Saturday.
First up was Trump who was playing young Scotsman Scott Donaldson who was enjoying his best ever ranking event performance. It was not a great start for him though as Trump came out of the gates like a rocket and was off to a flyer leading 3-0. Donaldson then put a nice break together in the fourth to keep himself in it ahead of the interval. Trump won the next to lead 4-1 but things did not look so comfortable when his opponent took the next two to close to within one frame, and all of a sudden the afternoon did not look so comfortable. There was a little more tension in the arena, and people where shouting for Scott believing that he could complete the comeback and cause an almighty upset. It was not to be though as Trump steadied the ship and the task became too much for Donaldson as he ended up falling to a valiant 6-3 defeat. Nonetheless this has been a great week for him and his provisionally put him into the top 64 on the end of season money list, despite only being in the first year of a new two season tour card.
Then in the evening was World number two Stuart Bingham's turn as he took on Robert Milkins, who was looking to reach his first ranking event final, despite this being his sixth ranking event semi-final. Milkins had received some heavier beatings in some of his previous semi-finals, losing 6-2 in the 2012 World Open to Stephen Lee, 6-2 in the 2013 Wuxi Classic to Neil Robertson and 9-2 in the 2014 International Championships to Ricky Walden. That trend continued here as well with a result that topped the lot, with Bingham whitewashing Milkins 6-0. Bingham was lucky in the opening frame with a fluke on the way to a century, and then he dominated the second frame to double his lead. The third frame may have been the key as Milkins looked set to get a frame on the scoreboard, only for Bingham to steal it and move 3-0 ahead. Chances came and chances went for Milkins thereafter with a few costly misses that, on the whole, were heavily punished by Bingham as you would expect in such an overwhelming victory. It has still been a good week for Milkins as he recovers from a poor start to the season, which was down mainly to a broken collar bone, something that until Rob Walker mentioned it in last nights warm up I was either unaware of or had slipped my mind. Milkins is up on the provisional seedings for the World Championship to 29th, having slipped well outside of the top 32 on this list prior to the run.
Despite plenty of upsets early on in the week, we still have a final that contains two top players who are looking to further their respective trophy cabinets. For Trump, he is looking to win his first Welsh Open and get a his second ranking win of the season which would be a deserved one having reach two finals and a semi-final in the three home nations events he entered (missing Northern Ireland). Meanwhile, Bingham is aiming for his first success since the Crucible triumph of 2015 which seems a lot longer ago now. He lost in the final of the China Championships in November and the final of the World Grand Prix very narrowly last March, so perhaps for the world number two, this will be a much luckier occasion. Bingham has a good big match record against Trump. He has beaten him in a World Championship semi-final, a Champion of Champions quarter-final and a Premier League final. This is as well as winning their most recent meeting at the the 2016 Grand Prix.
In terms of their routes to the final, Bingham's highest seeded opponent was Milkins in the semi-finals who was seeded 32, otherwise he had only played Matthew Stevens who was seeded inside of the top 50 for this weeks event. Across his six matches this week, Bingham has made 15 breaks of 50 or above, with four of those being centuries. Overall he has dropped seven frames and completed a total of three whitewashes.
As for Judd Trump, his highest seeded opponent was obviously Barry Hawkins in the quarter-finals as the thirteenth seed, otherwise he has only played Andrew Higginson (seed 49) who was seeded inside the worlds top 75 coming to Cardiff. Overall, Trump has made 19 breaks of 50 or above, with three centuries so there is not much between the two players in their scoring prior to this week. Trump has dropped four more frames than Bingham, losing 11 frames overall and completing one whitewash against amateur Jackson Page in the Last 32.
Based on those stats it could be an even contest, and while Trump may be favourite Bingham has just as good of a chance to walk away with the title and the extra £40,000 that will go with that as well as a place in next seasons Champion of Champions.
Meanwhile, I will enjoy one last day in Cardiff watching the final before heading home. Once home I may put a post up on my experiences this week and with a few photos I have taken during the event.
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