Four dramatic days of action at the Toughsheet Community Stadium in Bolton have whittled the Champion of Champions draw down from 16 runners to four.
The semi-finals for the prestigious invitational, where a ยฃ150,000 top prize is up for grabs, will take place on Friday and Saturday.
Two among the semi-finalists are attempting to etch their names onto the trophy for the third time, while the other two are gunning for maiden successes in the competition.
Let’s take a look at both semi-final ties.
Mark Allen vs Xiao Guodong
Mark Allen represented the top seed in this year’s Champion of Champions draw as the tournament’s reigning champion.
The Northern Irishman beat Igor Figueiredo in the first match of the week on Monday before fighting back from 3-0 down to edge Jak Jones in his group final.
Allen is bidding to win the event for the third time in five editions, having also emerged with the trophy aloft back in 2020.
The Pistol will face Xiao Guodong for a berth in this year’s final, the latter representing arguably the most improved player on the circuit this year.
Xiao secured his first ever Champion of Champions appearance by landing the Wuhan Open crown in China last month, and he has certainly made the most of his opportunity so far.
The 35 year-old overturned a 3-0 deficit to Ronnie O’Sullivan in his opening fixture before repeating the trick against Mark Selby late on Thursday evening.
Xiao is looking every bit a top-16 player these days, a status he now boasts after breaking into the elite bracket of the rankings following his run to the semi-finals of last week’s International Championship.
Allen and Xiao have already clashed three times this season, including in Nanjing last week when the latter prevailed with a 6-2 scoreline.
While Allen has the greater experience at this stage of tournaments, Xiao is probably the player in greater form overall – making it a tough encounter to call.
Mark Williams vs Neil Robertson
Two former world champions will contest the second semi-final in the 2024 Champion of Champions draw on Saturday evening.
Like Allen, Neil Robertson is hoping to get his hands on the silverware for the third time having experienced glory in both 2015 and 2019.
The Australian wasn’t at his free-scoring best but dug deep to beat Ali Carter and Judd Trump in close battles on Wednesday.
Mark Williams booked his last-four ticket a day earlier courtesy of a brace of victories over reigning world champions Bai Yulu and Kyren Wilson.
Somewhat strangely given his pedigree in the game, this marks the first time that Williams has reached the latter rounds of this version of the Champion of Champions.
The Welshman boasts an awful head-to-head record against Robertson, having won only six of their 30 battles in all competitions.
Those kinds of stats are unlikely to bother Williams much, though, and he is still ranked 12 places higher than Robertson on the official world rankings list.
Robertson has already been in the winners’ enclosure this season following his triumph at the English Open, and the Melbourne man will be keen on getting himself on a roll.
Williams, of course, narrowly missed out on capturing the inaugural Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters title when he was pipped in a decider by Judd Trump.
2024 Champion of Champions draw
Group 1
Mark Allen 4-2 Igor Figueiredo
Gary Wilson 2-4 Jak Jones
Group 1 Final
Mark Allen 6-4 Jak Jones
Group 2
Judd Trump 4-0 Ding Junhui
Ali Carter 3-4 Neil Robertson
Group 2 Final
Judd Trump 4-6 Neil Robertson
Group 3
Kyren Wilson 4-1 Luca Brecel
Mark Williams 4-1 Bai Yulu
Group 3 Final
Kyren Wilson 5-6 Mark Williams
Group 4
Ronnie O’Sullivan 3-4 Xiao Guodong
Mark Selby 4-2 Shaun Murphy
Group 4 Final
Xiao Guodong 6-5 Mark Selby
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Friday, 7pm UTC
Mark Allen vs Xiao Guodong
Saturday, 7pm UTC
Mark Williams vs Neil Robertson
Final (bo19)
Sunday at 1pm and 7pm UTC
Click here to view the full updated draw
(snooker.org)
Featured photo credit: WST
Williams has also just beaten Kyren Wilson who he’d never beaten in a major event before. The Welshman has only beaten Robertson three times in matches longer than best of 5.
The pair have served up a couple of recent classics, both in 2022. At the Masters, in the semis, Robertson came through 6-5 following a decider where he needed two snookers. Later in the year, Robertson defeated Williams 5-3 in the English Open quarter-finals. The match produced five centuries, one being a 147 from the Welshman, and three other contributions in excess of 65.
They’ve never met in a major final.
Xiao v O’Sullivan is probably the greatest best of 7 contest I’ve ever seen. Sublime snooker for six frames and then a wonderfully tense decider that ignited a partisan Bolton crowd.
O’Sullivan holds the record for centuries in the Champion of Champions with 46.
It was a very good match indeed. But the Antwerp Open final in 2011 between O’Sullivan and Trump always stands out to me as the greatest bo7 match for quality and context.
I never saw that one actually but seems a fair shout based on other’s recollections of that match.