Ronnie O'Sullivan, Anthony Hamilton, Shaun Murphy and Luca Brecel will contest the semi-finals of the Champion of Champions in Coventry.
Each came through their groups from Monday through to Thursday in varying ways to make it into the last four as the tournament hots up.
Anthony Hamilton was the first man through to the semi-finals as he won the opening group on Monday by defeating Ding Junhui and Ryan Day. The German Masters champion was by no means at his best, but with Ding being under the weather that match turned into a scrappy affair. A number of frames went down to the colours, but the highlight for Hamilton was a run of 75 that got him over the line in frame six for a 4-2 victory.
Ryan Day was in much better form as he defeated Barry Hawkins 4-2. Day made breaks of 110, 103, 79 and 71 and showing such form made him a big favourite for the match with Hamilton. Day took advantage in the opening two frames but then let this advantage slip as Hamilton made the high break of the group, a 133 on the way to levelling the scores at 2-2. Day won the fifth on the black, and a 63 in the sixth helped him move two clear again at 4-2. Despite having chances in every frame from there onwards, Day lost his way and lost all of the final four frames as Hamilton edged through.
Group two on Tuesday was also a close affair with Shaun Murphy coming out on top. His tight opening match with Mark King was a tough affair. After losing the opener, Murphy was level with 78 in the second. The third went to King with large amounts of fortune on the colours before Murphy crucially levelled again at 2-2. He then dominated the fifth frame and made a superb clearance of 69 in the sixth to clinch the match without heading to a final frame decider.
There was a decider in the other group two game between Michael White and Marco Fu, as White made a 102 break to come through 4-3 having led 2-0 early in the match before Fu came back with some high breaks of his own. Murphy's match with King finishing so late meant it was a short turnaround to the quarter-final, but after losing the opening frame, this seemed to make no difference. The highlight of the match came in frames 2-4 as Murphy compiled superb breaks of 101, 121 and 123 to march into a 3-1 lead. White won the next two, including a long sixth frame to level the match, but a run of 78 in the seventh saw Murphy lead once more at 4-3. White squared it again at 4-4 but could not get in front, as Murphy made another high break, this time a 93 to go one away, and he was soon over the line for a 6-4 win.
There was plenty of drama on Wednesday as Luca Brecel came through a very tough group to make the semi-finals. Despite not having his own cue which was lost on the way back from China, he thumped Judd Trump 4-0 in the opening round. After dominating the opener, he then fired in breaks of 103, 105 and 87 to clinch a quick fire victory and a quarter-final place with the world champion.
Mark Selby was clearly feeling tired and jet-lagged having only landed back in the UK on Tuesday following his International win in Daqing. He managed to come through a scrappy first round encounter with Liang Wenbo who had more than enough chances in the match, but failed to take them at the crucial moments. The group final started well for Selby with a 125 break in the opener, but two 50+ contributions in the next two frames for the Belgian, was followed by a fantastic pot on the re-spotted black in frame four to lead 3-1. Selby closed to 2-3, but then Brecel went 5-2 ahead assisted by breaks of 50 and 53. This looked like game over, but as usual Selby had other ideas. A run of 76 kept him in the match, and he then took the ninth as well to get within one again. It looked like going to a final frame when Selby built a big lead in the tenth, but a superb clearance of 55 from Brecel got him over the line and into the semi-finals.
The final group on Thursday could have been dubbed the "group of death" with the three former champions all in action, but it quickly turned into the Ronnie O'Sullivan show. He dispatched an out of form Neil Robertson 4-1 in the opening round with breaks of 70, 72 and saved his best until last with a break of 134 clinching victory in no time at all.
Defending champion John Higgins became his quarter-final opponent once he had whitewashed fellow Scotsman Anthony McGill with runs of 50, 75, 78 and 85 in the process. That was as good as it got for Higgins though as O'Sullivan thrashed him in the evening. Higgins had chances in the opening two frames but they both went to Ronnie, who then seized his moment with a run of 81 giving him the third frame and dominating the fourth to move 4-0 ahead in quick time. Again, O'Sullivan save the best until last with a break of 101 making it 5-0 and he sealed victory with a superb total clearance of 138, and marked himself as the clear favourite to take the title this weekend.
Semi-Final Draw:
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Anthony Hamilton (Friday - 7pm)
Shaun Murphy Vs Luca Brecel (Saturday - 7pm)
The semi-finals are both best-of-11 frame affairs and are spread over two days because of ITV4's Saturday afternoon racing coverage commitments. On Friday night, O'Sullivan will face Hamilton in what looks a very one sided affair, at least if you look at the bookies odds. Hamilton was out of sorts despite coming through on day one, and he will need to seriously up his game if he is to have any chance here. This tournament is hand-made for Ronnie O'Sullivan and it has shown in previous years, making the final in each of his previous three appearances, winning two of them. Again he looks so much more motivated on UK soil in front of good crowds and likes this event because it is a "numpty-free zone". After whitewashing someone as good as Higgins, another comfortable victory looks likely here.
Saturday night's semi-final is a much tougher one to call between Shaun Murphy and Luca Brecel. The two have played each other so many times already that they should know each other's games inside and out. After losing their first three meetings, Brecel has hit back well by beating Murphy in four of the last five occasions. The one thing that is perhaps worth adding is, despite Luca winning the best-of-19 frames China Championship final, three of his four wins over Shaun have been over the best-of-7 frames, while three of Murphy's four have been the three previous times they have met in best-of-11 frame matches. It is hard to argue against someone who has beaten Trump and Selby to make it this far, but Murphy and Brecel is becoming a great snooker match-up and it could well be a close contest on Saturday once again. Murphy has been in very heavy scoring form this season, sitting sixth on the century list for the campaign so far and an aggressive game from Brecel could help to suit Murphy also.
Either way, I think the final on Sunday is also going to be a great contest and it is certainly a weekend of snooker to look forward to.
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