The Crucible Theatre will transition to the special single table setup on Thursday with the 2024 World Snooker Championship semi-finals to commence in Sheffield.
A tournament full of shocks and upsets so far means that there is an unexpected final-four lineup still vying for the £500,000 top prize.
Only one player among the remaining quartet is ranked inside the world’s top 16, making it the first time since 1977 that three qualifiers have reached this stage.
While it may not provide a star-studded climax to this year’s edition, there still promises to be an entertaining finale in store.
Match predictions here during this event have been absolute garbage, so let’s leave them where they belong – in the bin.
Nevertheless, let’s reflect on the two semi-finals at the 2024 World Snooker Championship.
David Gilbert vs Kyren Wilson (12)
Session 1: Thursday, May 2nd at 1pm
Session 2: Friday, May 3rd at 10am
Session 3: Friday, May 3rd at 7pm
Session 4: Saturday, May 4th at 2:30pm
As the world number 12 and the only seed left in the tournament, Kyren Wilson has been promoted to the new tournament favourite with the bookies.
How the Kettering cueist will handle the added pressure will be interesting to see over the coming few days.
Except for a few minor hiccups, Wilson looked comfortable during his 13-8 triumph over John Higgins in the last eight.
The 32 year-old, a five-time ranking event winner at some of the smaller events, has been challenging for major honours at more prestigious tournaments for several years without being able to land the killer blow.
The Englishman reached the final of the 2020 World Championship where he was denied the trophy by Ronnie O’Sullivan, but he may never get a better opportunity to win at the Crucible than the one presented to him this year.
Against David Gilbert, Wilson faces a player who has stormed back to form at just the right time after a lengthy spell in the doldrums.
With six century breaks already, Gilbert has represented the highest scorer of anybody in the competition.
If Gilbert can sustain that level of break building, he will certainly give himself a chance to go one better than his semi-final run in 2019 that ended in a painful deciding-frame loss.
The 42 year-old looked a bit edgy in the latter parts of his quarter-final win over Stephen Maguire, but his Scottish opponent was unable to take advantage.
Wilson and Gilbert are both, in fact, prone to getting nervous in their biggest moments, so that element could play a role in determining who advances to the final.
Not much separates them in their head-to-head record, with Wilson winning six to Gilbert’s five in all competitions.
Jak Jones vs Stuart Bingham
Session 1: Thursday, May 2nd at 7pm
Session 2: Friday, May 3rd at 2:30pm
Session 3: Saturday, May 4th at 10am
Session 4: Saturday, May 4th at 7pm
The other showdown in the semi-finals of the 2024 World Snooker Championship will be between Stuart Bingham and Jak Jones.
Bingham produced a fine display to upset tournament favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter-finals.
When he beat the Rocket at the same stage of the 2015 World Championship, he proceeded to go all the way to success and the silverware.
With all his experience as a proven winner and a former world number two, Bingham is expected to beat surprise package Jak Jones in the last four.
But write the Welshman off at your peril, as he has already proved on countless occasions at the Crucible Theatre across this season and last.
Not for the first time in this event, Jones took advantage of a terrible performance from his opponent when he dispatched of a wretched Judd Trump on Wednesday.
Jones has been doing enough to get the job done in each of his matches so far, and the 30 year-old appears to have a useful knack of negatively affecting the opposition’s game and rhythm.
Bingham has faced Jones only once before, with the latter recording a convincing 4-0 triumph over the former Masters champion at the 2022 Gibraltar Open.
Among the final four contenders, Jones is the only player who has never experienced the single table setup at the Crucible Theatre.
Whether that will have an impact on his performance is an obvious unknown, but he has certainly dealt with everything that has been thrown at him so far.
Bingham, who would return to the top 16 in the world rankings by reaching the final, will have to be wary of such a threat.
2024 World Snooker Championship Draw
Round 1 (bo19)
Luca Brecel (1) 9-10 David Gilbert
Robert Milkins (16) 10-9 Pang Junxu
Ali Carter (9) 7-10 Stephen Maguire
Shaun Murphy (8) 10-5 Lyu Haotian
Mark Selby (5) 6-10 Joe O’Connor
Kyren Wilson (12) 10-1 Dominic Dale
John Higgins (13) 10-6 Jamie Jones
Mark Allen (4) 10-6 Robbie Williams
Judd Trump (3) 10-5 Hossein Vafaei
Tom Ford (14) 10-6 Ricky Walden
Zhang Anda (11) 4-10 Jak Jones
Mark Williams (6) 9-10 Si Jiahui
Ding Junhui (7) 9-10 Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson (10) 5-10 Stuart Bingham
Barry Hawkins (15) 8-10 Ryan Day
Ronnie O’Sullivan (2) 10-1 Jackson Page
Round 2 (bo25)
David Gilbert 13-4 Robert Milkins (16)
Stephen Maguire 13-9 Shaun Murphy (8)
Joe O’Connor 6-13 Kyren Wilson (12)
John Higgins (13) 13-12 Mark Allen (4)
Judd Trump (3) 13-7 Tom Ford (14)
Jak Jones 13-9 Si Jiahui
Jack Lisowski 11-13 Stuart Bingham
Ryan Day 7-13 Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
Quarter-Finals (bo25)
David Gilbert 13-8 Stephen Maguire
Kyren Wilson (12) 13-8 John Higgins (13)
Judd Trump (3) 9-13 Jak Jones
Stuart Bingham 13-10 Ronnie O’Sullivan (2)
Semi-Finals (bo33)
David Gilbert 11-17 Kyren Wilson (12)
Jak Jones 17-12 Stuart Bingham
Final (bo35)
Kyren Wilson (12) 18-14 Jak Jones
Click here for the latest live scores and session times.
Featured photo credit: WST
I’d say most of us have a shocker with predictions! None of my semi-finalists are still going. I think this line-up reflects a season where a number of top players have experienced indifferent seasons.
Wilson and Bingham clearly have the greater pedigree but Gilbert scores just as well as them and has beaten Wilson in their previous Crucible meeting.
I actually fancy Bingham to win it from here as the experience of being a champion is a key advantage. His level from 6-6 against O’Sullivan is the best standard I’ve seen at this year’s tournament.
Bingham appearing in a 10th Triple Crown semi-final. Wilson is in his sixth and Gilbert a 4th. Jones is appearing in only his second ranking semi-final.
I meant to add this stat earlier but Si Jiahui’s last 16 exit gave us a quarter-final line-up without a player from outside Britain for the first time since 2007. It’s the 8th time this situation has occurred. The other instances were 1989, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2004, 2005 and 2007.
Yeah, not great that stat with the lack of international players. Hardly inspiring for the “global game”.
We are growing globally in some ways but not in terms of elite player representation. Ken Doherty actually stopped it a few times from being more than eight instances of an all-British line-up in the quarters.
Worth remembering Bingham leads Gilbert 13-0 in their head-to-head!
The only ranked player in the semi finals is Kyran Wilson at number 12, the quality of play has been really poor. I honestly think it’s because the top players are too busy flying around the world particularly Asia chasing money, by the time the world championship is played they are all too tired and not ready for a big game.