The climax to the 2024 Xi’an Grand Prix is set up nicely with a fascinating lineup in the semi-finals at the Qujiang E-Sports Centre.
The remaining four contenders have won five games to reach this point in the tournament – a new lucrative ranking event on the calendar.
Two more victories are required this weekend for glory and the £177,000 top prize.
Let’s take a look at both matches in the Xi’an Grand Prix semi-finals.
Kyren Wilson vs Ronnie O’Sullivan
Saturday, 7am UTC+1
A blockbuster battle will begin Saturday’s action in China, with world champion Kyren Wilson entertaining pre-tournament favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan.
The latter had coasted through his early rounds but was made to work for his triumph in the quarter-finals.
The Rocket defied a two-ton performance from Matthew Selt to edge his fellow Englishman in a deciding frame.
Prior to that, O’Sullivan had lost only three frames in the event as he pursues a record-extending 42nd career ranking title.
For Wilson, it hasn’t taken the Kettering cueist long to return to the business end of a big event following his exploits in Sheffield.
Last season’s Crucible king will be aware of the potential pitfalls of having a poor season as world champion, and he has done well so far to avoid any such talk.
Having scraped past Jimmy Robertson in the last 16, Wilson enjoyed a much tidier time of it in the quarter-finals while securing a 5-1 defeat of Xu Si.
Wilson, ranked number three in the world, is not quite in the world number one race at the moment.
But the 32 year-old would definitely enter that conversation if he were to land a seventh ranking crown on Sunday.
Wilson and O’Sullivan haven’t crossed paths in a ranking event since the 2021 UK Championship, when the former prevailed 6-5.
Overall, however, O’Sullivan enjoys a superior head-to-head advantage and won their biggest duels in finals of both the World Championship and the Champion of Champions.
Judd Trump vs Daniel Wells
Saturday, 12:30pm UTC+1
Speaking of the world number one race, Judd Trump is now within one match victory of returning to top spot in the official two-year rankings.
Should the Englishman pocket the runner-up prize of £76,000, it would take his rolling tally to the same as Mark Allen’s.
Trump would usurp the Northern Irishman in the standings on the basis of his better performance in the most recent counting event on the schedule.
The Englishman, who is undefeated so far during the 2024/25 campaign, beat David Gilbert 5-2 on Friday.
In the Xi’an Grand Prix semi-finals, Trump will be an enormous favourite against the tournament’s surprise package, Daniel Wells.
Just over a year separates Trump and Wells in age, so they likely would have crossed paths all the way back in their junior days.
Their respective careers on the World Snooker Tour have gone quite differently, however.
Where Trump has consistently been a member of the highest echelons, Wells has generally been battling to sustain his professional status on the circuit.
The Welshman upset Barry Hawkins in the last eight and will make a third career semi-final appearance in a ranking event on Saturday.
Wells beat Trump the last time they played – a 4-2 success at the 2023 Welsh Open – but has lost the other five matches they’ve contested.
Live coverage of both Xi’an Grand Prix semi-finals will be available for free on Matchroom.Live.
2024 Xi’an Grand Prix draw
Round of 128
Top Half
Kyren Wilson 5-2 Haris Tahir
He Guoqiang 5-4 Ashley Carty
Anthony McGill 5-0 Xing Zihao
Ricky Walden 5-3 Liam Davies
John Higgins 5-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Sunny Akani 5-2 Fan Zhengyi
Dean Young 5-3 Robert Milkins
Jimmy Robertson 5-1 Huang Jiahao
Elliot Slessor 5-0 Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Chris Wakelin 5-4 Rory Thor
Mark Davis 5-3 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Mark Williams 5-0 Liam Graham
Jamie Jones 5-2 Mostafa Dorgham
Stuart Bingham 5-1 Zhou Jinhao
Xu Si 5-4 Jiang Jun
Ding Junhui 4-5 Alfie Burden
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-0 Wang Yuchen
Révész Bulcsú 5-0 David Grace
Neil Robertson 5-2 Allan Taylor
Yuan Sijun 5-1 Bai Yulu
Zhang Anda 5-1 Oliver Lines
Graeme Dott 5-2 Ma Shaojun
Hossein Vafaei 5-1 Ahmed Aly Elsayed
Dylan Emery 5-2 Jackson Page
Amir Sarkhosh 5-3 Joshua Thomond
Si Jiahui 5-4 Jimmy White
Gong Chenzhi 5-4 Anthony Hamilton
Tom Ford 5-3 Stan Moody
Matthew Selt 5-2 Ian Burns
Joe O’Connor 5-3 Duane Jones
Zak Surety 5-2 Sanderson Lam
Hammad Miah w/o Luca Brecel
Bottom Half
Judd Trump 5-2 Antony Kowalski
Ma Hailong 5-3 Martin O’Donnell
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Baipat Siripaporn
Artemijs Zizins 5-3 Robbie Williams
Jak Jones 5-4 Robbie McGuigan
Tian Pengfei 5-0 Farakh Ajaib
Jack Lisowski 5-1 Ross Muir
Joe Perry 5-0 Mink Nutcharut
Jordan Brown 5-2 Liam Pullen
David Gilbert 5-1 Reanne Evans
Ben Mertens 5-4 Simon Blackwell
Gary Wilson 5-4 Long Zehuang
Paul Deaville 5-3 Wu Yize
Pang Junxu 5-2 Michael Holt
Aaron Hill 5-2 Chris Totten
Mark Selby 5-3 Wang Xinbo
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Mitchell Mann
Jamie Clarke 5-0 Cao Jin
Noppon Saengkham 5-3 Andrew Pagett
Dominic Dale 5-4 Mohammed Shehab
Daniel Wells 5-4 Ali Carter
Julien Leclercq 5-4 Ben Woollaston
Zhou Yuelong 5-1 Haydon Pinhey
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-3 Lei Peifan
Matthew Stevens 5-0 Andrew Higginson
Ryan Day 5-4 Cheung Ka Wai
Scott Donaldson w/o Lim Kok Leong
Barry Hawkins 5-1 Kreishh Gurbaxani
Xiao Guodong 5-2 Iulian Boiko
Stephen Maguire 5-1 Ken Doherty
David Lilley 5-3 Louis Heathcote
Mark Allen 5-2 Liu Hongyu
Round of 64
Top Half
Kyren Wilson 5-2 He Guoqiang
Anthony McGill 3-5 Ricky Walden
John Higgins 4-5 Sunny Akani
Dean Young 4-5 Jimmy Robertson
Elliot Slessor 2-5 Chris Wakelin
Mark Davis 2-5 Mark Williams
Jamie Jones 3-5 Stuart Bingham
Xu Si 5-4 Alfie Burden
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-2 Bulcsú Révész
Neil Robertson 2-5 Yuan Sijun
Zhang Anda 2-5 Graeme Dott
Hossein Vafaei 5-3 Dylan Emery
Amir Sarkhosh 3-5 Si Jiahui
Gong Chenzhi 5-1 Tom Ford
Matthew Selt 5-4 Joe O’Connor
Zak Surety 3-5 Hammad Miah
Bottom Half
Judd Trump 5-0 Ma Hailong
Lyu Haotian 5-2 Artemijs Zizins
Jak Jones 5-3 Tian Pengfei
Jack Lisowski 5-2 Joe Perry
Jordan Brown 2-5 David Gilbert
Ben Mertens 1-5 Gary Wilson
Paul Deaville 0-5 Pang Junxu
Aaron Hill 0-5 Mark Selby
Shaun Murphy 5-0 Jamie Clarke
Noppon Saengkham 3-5 Dominic Dale
Daniel Wells 5-3 Julien Leclercq
Zhou Yuelong 2-5 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Matthew Stevens 2-5 Ryan Day
Barry Hawkins w/o Scott Donaldson
Xiao Guodong 5-1 Stephen Maguire
David Lilley 1-5 Mark Allen
Round of 32
Top Half
Kyren Wilson 5-3 Ricky Walden
Sunny Akani 3-5 Jimmy Robertson
Chris Wakelin 2-5 Mark Williams
Stuart Bingham 4-5 Xu Si
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-1 Yuan Sijun
Hossein Vafaei w/o Graeme Dott
Si Jiahui 3-5 Gong Chenzhi
Matthew Selt 5-2 Hammad Miah
Bottom Half
Judd Trump 5-1 Lyu Haotian
Jak Jones 5-4 Jack Lisowski
David Gilbert 5-3 Gary Wilson
Pang Junxu 4-5 Mark Selby
Shaun Murphy 2-5 Dominic Dale
Daniel Wells 5-4 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Ryan Day 3-5 Barry Hawkins
Xiao Guodong 2-5 Mark Allen
Round of 16
Kyren Wilson 5-4 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Williams 4-5 Xu Si
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-0 Hossein Vafaei
Gong Chenzhi 4-5 Matthew Selt
Judd Trump 5-1 Jak Jones
David Gilbert 5-4 Mark Selby
Dominic Dale 1-5 Daniel Wells
Barry Hawkins 5-3 Mark Allen
Quarter-Finals (bo9)
Kyren Wilson 5-1 Xu Si
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-4 Matthew Selt
Judd Trump 5-2 David Gilbert
Daniel Wells 5-3 Barry Hawkins
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Kyren Wilson 6-4 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Judd Trump 6-1 Daniel Wells
Final (bo19)
Kyren Wilson 10-8 Judd Trump
Featured photo credit: WST
O’Sullivan would find Wells a hugely awkward final opponent as those past remarks of him saying the Welshman is never going to win a tournament would heap added pressure of him avoiding an almighty humbling. Two matches still to play but thought I’d put it out there given Wells rarely operates in these latter stages.
Indeed, good shout. Hard to see Wells beating Trump first, but you never know. Would be a good story ahead of the final if it happens.
Wilson instead reaches a 15th ranking final.
O’Sullivan has won his only two meetings with Wells.