Well we are down to our final four after some great snooker matches yesterday which yielded some drama on the baize. A couple of surprises, however the top four players of the week have book their place in the semi final of the snooker 2016 players championship.
Up first this afternoon is Ricky Walden taking on Barry Hawkins. Both players have had their ups and downs to reach this stage of the tournament. This snooker match will be a tight one, with both players in similar form. Barry had a couple of poor performances but redeemed himself yesterday by taking out one of the favourites in style, Ding Junhiu. Walden played well against an in form Ali Carter yesterday by 4-1. This is a very difficult match to call, but we will give Barry the slight upper hand due to his experience at these stages of competition.
Later this evening, Shaun Murphy will play Mark Allen. Mark Allen beat Mike Dunn yesterday by 4-1, however the score line there did not reflect his overall play. It was a poor standard match however Allen missed less balls than Dunn, hence the score 4-1. Shaun Murphy also played quite poorly last night, winning by the skin of his teeth against Ben Woolaston by 4-3. Its not what we were expecting given his snooker masterclass performance against Dominic Dale on Thursday. If Shaun returns to Thursdays form against Allen, then he should have no problem winning, however if he continues on from last nights poor performance, he will have a tough match against Allen. Murphy still remains tournament favourite but he has some work to do before lifting the snooker players championship trophy.