This week’s World Grand Prix schedule has reached the semi-finals stage on the Morningside Enviornment in Leicester.
The 32 gamers who entered the competitors on Monday have been whittled right down to the ultimate 4 contenders.
Three victories have been earned to succeed in this level, however an extra two are required to obtain the trophy.
There’s a £100,000 prime prize on supply for what’s the first of three occasions to be performed on the Gamers Collection.
Judd Trump vs Cao Yupeng
(Friday, 7pm UTC)
The primary encounter on the World Grand Prix semi-finals schedule will happen on Friday night between Judd Trump and Cao Yupeng.
The pair emerged from contrasting quarter-final showdowns on Thursday to succeed in the penultimate spherical.
Prime seed Trump thumped Mark Selby with a 5-1 scoreline, whereas Cao needed to struggle again from 3-0 behind to edge Mark Williams in a deciding body.
Having reached a fifth profession rating occasion semi-final, the latter stays heading in the right direction to land his maiden rating title.
Cao has been denied glory on the last hurdle on three events, together with on this season’s Snooker Shoot Out when he was overwhelmed by Mark Allen.
Trump, in fact, is a serial winner who’s in actual fact bidding to seize the World Grand Prix for a record-extending fourth time.
A triumph this weekend for the 34 year-old would additionally signify his fourth piece of silverware from this marketing campaign alone.
The Englishman’s huge expertise naturally locations him as a heavy favorite to progress to Sunday’s last.
Curiously, although, Trump and Cao have encountered one another in two earlier rating semi-finals, with one victory apiece.
Ding Junhui vs Ronnie O’Sullivan
(Saturday, 7pm UTC)
On Saturday night, the second semi-final on the World Grand Prix schedule will function Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ding Junhui.
Mates off the circuit, O’Sullivan and Ding have spent a variety of time in one another’s firm each on and off the baize just lately.
The duo shared a few high-profile battles towards each other on the principle tour both facet of performing some exhibitions collectively in Asia across the New 12 months interval.
O’Sullivan beat Ding to declare an eighth UK Championship title in December and once more within the first spherical of final week’s Masters.
Generally, the Rocket boasts a far superior head-to-head file towards China’s biggest snooker exponent.
Ding, although, performed effectively to beat countryman Zhang Anda 5-2 within the final eight, with O’Sullivan a 5-1 winner over Gary Wilson.
Regardless that the latter will signify the plain favorite, significantly given the shape he’s on this season, this specific fixture is at all times a particular one.
O’Sullivan and Ding are arguably the 2 hottest gamers on this planet, making it a mouthwatering conflict to savour.
2024 World Grand Prix draw and schedule
(Instances in UTC)
Spherical of 32 (bo7)
Judd Trump 4-2 Jamie Jones
Lyu Haotian 4-3 Chris Wakelin
Mark Selby 4-3 Yuan Sijun
Ali Carter 4-3 Wu Yize
Barry Hawkins 3-4 Cao Yupeng
John Higgins 0-4 Shaun Murphy
Hossein Vafaei 4-3 Matthew Selt
Mark Williams 4-3 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Zhang Anda 4-2 Dominic Dale
Mark Allen 4-2 Jack Lisowski
Noppon Saengkham 4-1 Xiao Guodong
Ding Junhui 4-3 Ricky Walden
Tom Ford 4-1 Jordan Brown
Gary Wilson 4-2 David Gilbert
Zhou Yuelong 4-1 Stephen Maguire
Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-2 Pang Junxu
Spherical of 16 (bo7)
Judd Trump 4-0 Lyu Haotian
Mark Selby 4-3 Ali Carter
Cao Yupeng 4-0 Shaun Murphy
Hossein Vafaei 1-4 Mark Williams
Zhang Anda 4-2 Mark Allen
Noppon Saengkham 1-4 Ding Junhui
Tom Ford 2-4 Gary Wilson
Zhou Yuelong 3-4 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Quarter-Finals (bo9)
Judd Trump 5-1 Mark Selby
Cao Yupeng 5-4 Mark Williams
Zhang Anda 2-5 Ding Junhui
Gary Wilson 1-5 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Semi-Finals (bo11)
Judd Trump 6-2 Cao Yupeng
Ding Junhui vs Ronnie O’Sullivan
(Sat, 7pm)
Ultimate (bo19)
Judd Trump vs Ding/O’Sullivan
(Solar, 1pm and 7pm)
Featured picture credit score: WST