Two wins separate the remaining 4 contenders from capturing the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters title in Riyadh this weekend.
The ultimate 4 face off in Friday’s semi-finals to find out which pair will contest tomorrow’s ultimate on the Inexperienced Halls.
A number of marquee names exited the event early on, however there is no such thing as a scarcity of firepower left with a quartet of star names nonetheless vying for the £500,000 first prize.
Let’s take a quick have a look at each semi-final matches within the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters.
Mark Williams vs Si Jiahui
Mark Williams started his week with a tough 5-4 defeat of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh within the final 32, but it surely has been a lot simpler for the three-time world champion since.
After finishing a 6-2 victory over Stuart Bingham, the Welshman duly thrashed Jimmy Robertson 6-0 in Thursday’s quarter-finals.
Williams, who completed off his last-eight win with a break of 133, stays on the right track to assert a twenty seventh profession rating title and a second in 2024.
Subsequent up for the 49 year-old is younger Chinese language expertise Si Jiahui, who’s bidding for his maiden trophy at this degree.
Si impressively dispatched of pre-tournament favorite Ronnie O’Sullivan, ending the Rocket’s hopes in Riyadh with a number of frame-winning contributions.
With £100,000 in prize cash already secured – matching the earnings he acquired for reaching the identical stage of the 2023 World Championship – Si is assured to affix the highest 16 on the earth rankings for the primary time.
The 22 year-old, who was a finalist in final season’s German Masters, beat Williams 10-9 on the Crucible Theatre in April.
The latter will possible begin this contest as a slight favorite, however Si’s pedigree is consistently rising and his silverware breakthrough seems to be imminent.
Judd Trump vs Shaun Murphy
Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy conflict in a repeat of their Shanghai Masters title-deciding assembly from July.
Trump dominated that event to carry the invitational crown in China, and the world primary will undoubtedly be the favorite once more right here.
The 35 year-old has been in ruthless kind to date through the 2024/25 marketing campaign, along with his slender loss to Kyren Wilson within the Xi’an Grand Prix ultimate representing solely a minor adverse level.
Trump ended Neil Robertson’s aspirations on Thursday with a 6-3 conquer the Australian, scoring a break of 100 within the third body.
Meaning the Englishman is simply three centuries shy of changing into solely the second participant within the sport’s historical past to achieve the 1,000 centuries milestone.
Murphy has been in good kind not too long ago too, although, and can symbolize a tough problem within the penultimate spherical.
The Magician didn’t have his scoring boots on within the final spherical however nonetheless managed to orchestrate a 6-2 success over Xiao Guodong.
Murphy’s report in opposition to Trump isn’t nice general, however he has loved moments of glory in opposition to his countryman in every of the Triple Crown occasions so is unlikely to shrink back from the event.
Thursday’s Outcomes (QF)
Mark Williams 6-0 Jimmy Robertson
Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-6 Si Jiahui
Judd Trump 6-3 Neil Robertson
Shaun Murphy 6-2 Xiao Guodong
Friday’s Matches (SF)
12pm UTC+1
Judd Trump vs Shaun Murphy
6pm UTC+1
Mark Williams vs Si Jiahui
Click on right here to view the complete draw, together with up to date outcomes.
Featured photograph credit score: WST