It’s semi-finals day on the 2024 BetVictor Welsh Open schedule with the penultimate round taking place on Saturday in Llandudno.
The two encounters in the last four couldn’t be much different, with proven winners on one side of the draw and aspiring champions on the other.
Let’s take a look at both Welsh Open semi-finals.
Gary Wilson vs John Higgins
(Saturday, 7pm UTC)
John Higgins remains on course for a record-extending sixth Welsh Open title after coming through the test of Mark Allen on Friday.
Higgins compiled a break of 131 and added three more contributions over 60 to see off the challenge of the highest-ranked participant in the tournament.
The Scot hasn’t etched his name onto ranking silverware since the 2021 Players Championship, but he is now the huge favourite for glory at the Venue Cymru.
A 32nd career ranking crown is within his reach, but Higgins has picked up an unwanted habit in recent seasons of failing to translate his appearances at the business stage of competitions into titles.
Gary Wilson will be the 48 year-old’s next opponent, the Englishman having thrashed Anthony McGill 5-0 in the last eight.
Wilson won the last event staged from the Home Nations series in December, successfully defending the Scottish Open in Edinburgh.
He has only beaten Higgins once before from seven previous attempts, although most of their previous battles have been in the Championship League.
They have, however, met once before at this same stage of the Welsh Open – a match Higgins won 6-2 in 2018 en route to winning the title for the fifth time.
Elliot Slessor vs Martin O’Donnell
(Saturday, 1pm UTC)
The opening fixture on the Welsh Open semi-finals schedule will be an unlikely affair between Elliot Slessor and Martin O’Donnell.
There wouldn’t have been many people predicting either of them to make it this far, but each now has a golden opportunity to reach a maiden ranking final.
Slessor dispatched the last home challenger Dominic Dale with a 5-3 scoreline that was matched by O’Donnell in his impressive defeat of world champion Luca Brecel.
The pair of Englishmen boast only three ranking event semi-final appearances between them so have done wonderfully to get this far already.
Slessor leads the head-to-head 2-1, which includes a resounding victory in their most high-profile encounter.
The 29 year-old beat O’Donnell 10-3 at the World Championship qualifiers in 2020 to secure his debut at the Crucible Theatre.
Both players need the to claim the £80,000 champion’s cheque on Sunday if they are to secure qualification for next week’s lucrative Players Championship in Telford.
Reaching the final for O’Donnell, meanwhile, would prove enough to see the Londoner rejoin the top 64 in the world rankings for the first time in two years.
2024 Welsh Open draw
Round of 128 (bo7)
Robert Milkins 4-3 Jamie Jones
Allan Taylor 4-2 Haydon Pinhey
David Gilbert 4-0 Ken Doherty
Oliver Lines 4-3 Michael White
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Oliver Brown
Liam Pullen 4-0 Rebecca Kenna
Gary Wilson 4-1 Mark Davis
Iulian Boiko 4-0 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Long Zehuang 4-1 Andy Lee
Anthony McGill 4-1 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Sanderson Lam 4-0 Baipat Siripaporn
Mark Williams 4-2 John Astley
Matthew Stevens 4-3 Louis Heathcote
Ricky Walden 4-2 Andy Hicks
Stuart Carrington 4-2 Reanne Evans
Neil Robertson 4-1 Jackson Page
Mark Allen 4-3 Cao Yupeng
Ma Hailong 4-2 Rory Thor
Si Jiahui 4-2 Stephen Maguire
Andrew Pagett 4-2 Mink Nutcharut
Ding Junhui 4-2 Jenson Kendrick
Robbie Williams 4-0 Peng Yisong
Adam Duffy 4-0 Zhou Yuelong
Jamie Clarke 4-3 James Cahill
David Lilley 4-0 Victor Sarkis
Ryan Day 4-3 Mostafa Dorgham
Tian Pengfei 4-0 Rod Lawler
John Higgins 4-0 Mohamed Ibrahim
Ross Muir 4-2 Stephen Hendry
Matthew Selt 4-3 Sam Craigie
Alexander Ursenbacher 0-4 Liam Davies
Duane Jones 4-2 Liam Highfield
Alfie Davies 4-1 Liam Graham
Dominic Dale 4-1 Jimmy White
Jordan Brown 4-3 Lyu Haotian
Stan Moody 4-2 Sean O’Sullivan
Zhang Anda 4-1 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Jak Jones 4-3 Liu Hongyu
Hossein Vafaei 4-1 Scott Donaldson
Julien Leclercq 4-3 Alfie Burden
Dylan Emery 4-1 Fergal O’Brien
Noppon Saengkham 4-1 Himanshu Jain
Andrew Higginson 4-2 Xing Zihao
Ali Carter 1-4 Elliot Slessor
Ben Mertens 4-0 Hammad Miah
Fan Zhengyi 4-2 Joe Perry
Aaron Hill 4-0 Anton Kazakov
Mark Selby 4-2 Yuan Sijun
Shaun Murphy 3-4 Barry Pinches
Daniel Wells 4-2 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Marco Fu 4-1 Stuart Bingham
Zak Surety 4-2 Mark Joyce
Kyren Wilson 4-3 Ashley Carty
Anthony Hamilton 4-0 Andres Petrov
Chris Wakelin 4-0 Jimmy Robertson
Martin O’Donnell 4-3 Ryan Thomerson
Ian Burns 4-2 Lukas Kleckers
Tom Ford 4-3 Ben Woollaston
Xiao Guodong 4-3 Ashley Hugill
Barry Hawkins 4-0 He Guoqiang
Wu Yize 4-1 Sydney Wilson
Graeme Dott 4-3 Pang Junxu
Joe O’Connor 4-3 Xu Si
Luca Brecel 4-3 Jiang Jun
Round of 64 (bo7)
Robert Milkins 4-1 Allan Taylor
David Gilbert 4-2 Oliver Lines
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Liam Pullen
Gary Wilson 4-2 Iulian Boiko
Long Zehuang 1-4 Anthony McGill
Sanderson Lam 3-4 Mark Williams
Matthew Stevens 3-4 Ricky Walden
Stuart Carrington 3-4 Neil Robertson
Mark Allen 4-0 Ma Hailong
Si Jiahui 4-2 Andrew Pagett
Ding Junhui 2-4 Robbie Williams
Adam Duffy 4-0 Jamie Clarke
David Lilley 2-4 Ryan Day
Tian Pengfei 1-4 John Higgins
Ross Muir 1-4 Matthew Selt
Liam Davies 1-4 Duane Jones
Alfie Davies 3-4 Dominic Dale
Jordan Brown 3-4 Stan Moody
Zhang Anda 1-4 Jak Jones
Hossein Vafaei 4-1 Julien Leclercq
Dylan Emery 4-2 Noppon Saengkham
Elliot Slessor w/o Andrew Higginson
Ben Mertens 2-4 Fan Zhengyi
Aaron Hill 4-2 Mark Selby
Barry Pinches 1-4 Daniel Wells
Marco Fu 4-3 Zak Surety
Kyren Wilson 1-4 Anthony Hamilton
Chris Wakelin 1-4 Martin O’Donnell
Ian Burns 2-4 Tom Ford
Xiao Guodong 3-4 Barry Hawkins
Wu Yize 2-4 Graeme Dott
Joe O’Connor 0-4 Luca Brecel
Round of 32 (bo7)
Robert Milkins 4-0 David Gilbert
Jack Lisowski 3-4 Gary Wilson
Anthony McGill 4-1 Mark Williams
Ricky Walden 4-2 Neil Robertson
Mark Allen 4-1 Si Jiahui
Robbie Williams 4-2 Adam Duffy
Ryan Day 1-4 John Higgins
Matthew Selt 4-1 Duane Jones
Dominic Dale 4-1 Stan Moody
Jak Jones 4-2 Hossein Vafaei
Dylan Emery 1-4 Elliot Slessor
Fan Zhengyi 4-1 Aaron Hill
Daniel Wells 2-4 Marco Fu
Anthony Hamilton 2-4 Martin O’Donnell
Tom Ford 4-1 Barry Hawkins
Graeme Dott 1-4 Luca Brecel
Round of 16 (bo7)
Robert Milkins 0-4 Gary Wilson
Anthony McGill 4-3 Ricky Walden
Mark Allen 4-0 Robbie Williams
John Higgins 4-3 Matthew Selt
Dominic Dale 4-0 Jak Jones
Elliot Slessor 4-3 Fan Zhengyi
Marco Fu 2-4 Martin O’Donnell
Tom Ford 1-4 Luca Brecel
Quarter-Final (bo9)
Gary Wilson 5-0 Anthony McGill
Mark Allen 2-5 John Higgins
Dominic Dale 3-5 Elliot Slessor
Martin O’Donnell 5-3 Luca Brecel
Semi-Final (bo11)
Gary Wilson 6-4 John Higgins
Elliot Slessor 5-6 Martin O’Donnell
Final (bo17)
Gary Wilson 9-4 Martin O’Donnell
Featured photo credit: WST
Interesting you say Higgins is a huge favourite. He’s clearly the favourite but wouldn’t surprise me if he loses to Wilson today as you mention his failure to convert appearances in the latter stages into titles. Wilson is now a multiple tournament winner and his scoring has become high level since 2019. The winner of the match will definitely be a huge favourite for the final though.
Found the flashing of “Wales Open” logo appearing every few minutes very annoying whilst a game was in progress. An infuriating act with a probably negative result resulting in people signing off. NOT a good idea.
Yes, combined with too many “creative” camera angles. The enjoyment of snooker relies on a certain visual calmness and being able to see the whole shot (which is usually easier if you can see the whole table).