PREVIEW: 2021 World Snooker Championship Semi-Finals

The ties in the Last 16 of the World Snooker Championship were undramatic. Boy, did the quarter-finals make up for it.

Every player among the final eight performed well, except Mark Williams who wasn’t given the opportunity to play. Eight has whittled down to four. They include three former World Champions and one World Championship finalist. Indeed, they may not be the dream four all of us were expecting but they are the four most in-form sportspeople throughout this tournament. We have two cracking ties and we should be incredibly spoilt over the next few days!

Seedings are correct to the world rankings after the 2021 Tour Championship, according to World Snooker Tour. As before, the H2H will include Championship League and Snooker Shoot-Out results. The H2H’s will come from Cuetracker. All matches are played on the 29th & 30th of April & 1st May 2021.

DRAW

Stuart Bingham (18) vs. Mark Selby (4)

H2H: Bingham is leading Selby 18-17 and one draw.

Last Meeting: 2021 WST Pro Series (Bingham winning 2-0).

Stuart Bingham’s route to the semis: Chen Zifan (6-1); Luca Brecel (10-5); Ding Junhui (10-9); Jamie Jones (13-6); Anthony McGill (13-12)

Mark Selby’s route to the semis: Kurt Maflin (10-1); Mark Allen (13-7); Mark Williams (13-3)

Stuart Bingham is STILL the last qualifier standing. He has come through some bruisers on his route to the semi-finals and had to battle hard against Anthony McGill from 10-7 down. Bingham showed his bottle in the decider by knocking in a century break of 125. Ball-run will enjoy playing with the least amount of pressure and he will play on the one-table set-up for the first time since his 2015 trophy win. He is also a joint-leader in scoring the most centuries with 10 as well.

Mark Selby is the best player in the tournament at the moment in my opinion. He completely demolished Mark Williams as he did with Kurt Maflin with one century and nine +50 breaks and with a session to spare. Even Williams said that he was outplayed in every department and tipped him to win the title, even if Neil Robertson and Judd Trump are still in the tournament. Selby should be the red-hot favourite to win this thing now.

It is surprising to see the H2H so close and that Bingham is leading it, going back to 1999. Selby will be in his element, having been in this set-up four times in the last eight years, becoming champion three times. He has decimated every opponent while Bingham will feel battle-hardened after two deciders. Selby may have memories of how Ronnie O’Sullivan snatched victory from the jaws of defeat last year. But I expect Selby to be too strong for Bingham.

Prediction: Selby to win 17-14.

Kyren Wilson (6) vs. Shaun Murphy (7)

H2H: Murphy is leading Wilson 6-3.

Last Meeting: 2021 WST Pro Series (Wilson winning 2-0).

Kyren Wilson’s route to the semis: Gary Wilson (10-8); Barry Hawkins (13-10); Neil Robertson (13-8)

Shaun Murphy’s route to the semis: Mark Davis (10-7); Yan Bingtao (13-7); Judd Trump (13-11)

Kyren Wilson has reached the quarter-final stage every year since 2016. Now he has reached the last four three times in the last four attempts. That is a pretty incredible Crucible record. He had to show some of his famed warrior-like qualities at this event. He was 5-1 down to Gary Wilson and 5-2 down against Neil Robertson. What is most impressive is how he racked up breaks of 59, 62, 84 and 133 to win five frames in a row to the final from 8-8 against Robertson.

Shaun Murphy’s form has come out of nowhere. Since the start of the second session against Mark Davis, he performed very well. His highlight so far was pulling away from Judd Trump from 6-6 to leading 10-6. He played incredibly well as he knocked in 58, 59, 104 and 124 in those four frames. Despite an audacious fightback from Trump to get to 11-11, Murphy showed great cojones to win those last two frames. That fist pump at the end of the match must’ve been so worth it!

It is perhaps worth noting that Murphy won the most high-profile ties over Wilson. Murphy beat Wilson in the 2018 Players Championship (6-3) and the 2020 Welsh Open final (9-1). But like Bingham, Murphy has not reached the one-table setup since 2015. It’s an incredibly tough one, but I think Kyren will tough it out this time around. Kyren is a much better player than two years ago and he proved his bottle to see this through.

Prediction: Wilson to win 17-12.

The 2021 World Snooker Championship will take place between 17th April and 3rd May 2021 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.