The Northern Ireland Open semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.
The top two ranked players in the world will go up against a couple of challengers who are bidding to etch their names onto silverware for the first time.
A champion’s cheque worth £100,000 is on the line this weekend in what is the seventh ranking tournament of the 2024/25 campaign.
Let’s take a look at the remaining four contenders for the Alex Higgins Trophy.
Judd Trump vs Elliot Slessor
Judd Trump and Elliot Slessor booked their spots in the Northern Ireland Open semi-finals with respective 5-1 victories over Shaun Murphy and Louis Heatchote.
Murphy said Trump produced an “incredible performance” with his fellow Englishman coasting through to remain on course to successfully defend the Home Nations crown.
It has been a remarkable run of form for Trump in 2024, and the 35 year-old deserves recognition for the outstanding consistency that has seen him repeatedly feature at the business end of competitions.
Trump has already won two big titles this season and is the favourite in Belfast, a city he clearly enjoys playing in having won the Northern Ireland Open a record four times already.
Slessor will have his work cut out for him if he’s to reach a maiden ranking event final of his 11-year career on the main tour.
The 30 year-old has had a good week to get this far, but it’s worth noting that world number 32 Joe O’Connor was the highest ranked player he faced.
The runaway world number one will be a different proposition entirely, and Slessor will likely have to perform at the absolute peak of his abilities to advance further.
Slessor has beaten Trump once from six attempts, but that was in a short best-of-five frame clash at the British Open three years ago.
Kyren Wilson vs Pang Junxu
The afternoon match on Saturday in the Northern Ireland Open semi-finals will be between world champion Kyren Wilson and Pang Junxu.
The former secured a 5-1 victory over Mark Williams on Friday while Pang fought back from behind in superb fashion to deny Neil Robertson in a deciding frame.
Like Slessor, Pang remains on course to capture a first-ever title on the World Snooker Tour, but the young Chinese competitor has experience with winning a semi-final at least.
The 24 year-old reached the final of last year’s WST Classic, where he was ultimately denied glory by Mark Selby.
It’s been a decent spell for the Chinese contingent with Xiao Guodong and Si Jiahui contesting the recent Wuhan Open final, and Wu Yize narrowly missing out on victory at the English Open.
Pang will be hoping to keep that run going, but he faces a stern test in the form of the Crucible champion and world number two.
Wilson is on course to land a second piece of silverware this term having already won the Xi’an Gran Prix, where he beat Trump in the final.
A repeat of that showdown is on the cards here, but the top two seeds will have to be careful to not take their opponents lightly.
Pang has beaten Wilson twice from their four prior fixtures with one another, albeit never in a match longer than seven frames.
2024 Northern Ireland Open
Saturday, October 26th
Semi-Finals
1pm UTC+1
Kyren Wilson vs Pang Junxu
7pm UTC+1
Judd Trump vs Elliot Slessor
Click here to view the full draw
(snooker.org)
Featured photo credit: WST
