In what's been a brilliant tournament so far, we've seen some unbelievable performances and no matter what result we get, there's guaranteed to be a first time finalist.
- Semi Final 1
Luca Brecel V Si Jiahui
I would never have believed If I was told at the start of the tournament that the semi final from quarters 1 & 2 would be Brecel V Jiahui,
Having won 7 frames in a row in the final session to defeat world number 1 Ronnie O'Sullivan, the Belgians confidence must be through the roof! While also producing some great form to beat 'class of 92' legend Mark Williams in the last 16, things could've been alot different as he had to battle through a decider with Ricky Walden in round 1.
Apart from reaching the final of the English Open in December, we have not seen the form Brecel has shown over the last 10 days in Sheffield regularly.
The last couple of weeks can only be described as life changing for Si Jiahui.
The 20 year old arrived in Sheffield for his first appearance at the crucible and could hardly of dreamt of progressing to his first semi final.
With victories against Shaun Murphy, Robert Milkins and Anthony McGill, he will have no fear of coming up against World number 10 Brecel.
He will become the youngest Crucible semi finalist since Ronnie O'Sullivan in 1996,
This will be a new experience for both players and nerves can be expected, they've never met before so predicting the winner is far from easy.
As Brecel is slightly more experienced when it comes to these big events and we could see how the pressure effected Si Jiahui at times during his quarter final, I'm going to give Brecel the nod in this one.
Prediction Luca Brecel 17-13 Si Jiahui.
- Semi final 2
Mark Allen V Mark Selby
A match that on paper looks 50/50, it's very hard to split these two, as Allen played brilliantly in the first half of the season, whereas similarly Selby played his best stuff in the second half!
The pair have played 22 times previously and it couldn't be closer with 11 wins apiece, this has all the makings of being a classic.
Allen had to come through tests against Fan Zhengyi, Stuart Bingham & Jak Jones to get to this stage, showing strong signs of good breakbuilding & safety play throughout.
He has become a different animal within the last 12 months and will relish the opportunity to play world number 2 Selby in such a big match.
Selby has also made light work of his opponents Matthew Selt, Gary Wilson & John Higgins up to this point.
Higgins was the form player coming into their match but Selby dominated from going 4-1 down to win 12 of the following 15 frames and cross the line with ease.
Selby has been the form player on tour in the second half of the season winning both the English Open & WST Classic, it's great to see one of the stars of the game returning to form after struggling previously.
He seems to come alive at the crucible and will have his eyes firmly set on claiming his 5th World Title on Monday.
Both players are masters at grinding down their opponent, the winner will be whichever player is more clinical when they get their opportunities, It's very hard to see this matches outcome anything other being very close.
I'm going to give Allen a tentative vote to come through a classic and reach his 1st world final.
Prediction Mark Allen 17-15 Mark Selby
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