The 2024 Tour Championship will be played from 20:00 tonight to 02:00 tomorrow morning (Beijing time) The second semi-final will be played by Northern Ireland's Mark Allen against Welsh legend Mark Williams, which will be the 23rd meeting between the two sides.
Mark Allen holds the edge 14-7 with Mark Williams in the last 22 matches, with the most recent meeting coming in the first round of this year's The Players Championship (Mark Allen 6-3 Mark Williams).
From the head-to-head record between the two sides, it seems that Mark Williams will show a disadvantage in this semi-final.
But given Mark Williams' overall quality, combined with his still positive form, it's hard to believe that Mark Allen can beat Mark Williams in a best-of-19 game.
Mark Williams narrowly defeated Tom Forde 10-9 in the first round and Trump 10-4 in the second round, demonstrating his current momentum of advancement.
Mark Allen defeated Higgins 10-7 in the first round and Ding Junhui 10-8 in the second round.
"I've been looking forward to playing Mark Williams again," Mark Allen told ITV Sport, "but we rarely seem to be able to compete in a best-of-19 game. So this semi-final with Mark Williams is going to be interesting."
Mark Allen, who is currently ranked third in the world, continued: "I'm going to plant a small seed of victory before the semi-finals, and I want Mark Williams to realise the reality that he doesn't have the advantage in the head-to-head record between us.
I'm also going to plant "this little seed of victory on the field" and I hope Mark Williams will see what I'm capable of."
But Mark Allen also admits that the reason he wants to play against Mark Williams to the fullest is not that he disrespects the latter, but rather that Mark Allen says that he always thinks Mark Williams is one of the best players.
"I admired Mark Williams' incredible performance on the tour and when you want to compete with the best of the greats, you have to give it your all.
In fact, Mark Williams' brilliant performance in the tiebreaker against Tom Forde was truly one of the best fights I've ever seen."
Since losing weight before the start of last season and teaming up with sports psychologist Paul Gaffney, it is clear that Mark Allen is now one of the toughest players on the pitch to play again.
The competitive mentality of calm and the strategic decision-making on the field have also made Mark Allen achieve unprecedented success at present.
In addition to winning three ranking tournaments last season, Mark Allen has also won three tournaments this season (Champion of Champions, Limited-Time Tournaments, The Players Championship), and with his current steady progression, Mark Allen is set to be the most competitive winner at this year's World Championships.
The semi-finals between Mark Allen and Mark Williams will be played in the first stage (8 games) at 20:00 (Beijing time) on April 6, and the second stage will be played at 02:00 tomorrow morning.
The winner will face O'Sullivan in the final, who beat Gary Wilson 10-7 in the semi-finals.
作者:FrankReport