2024 Champion of Champions Snooker: Semi-finals preview; Allen, Xiao, Williams, Robertson in contention

Credit: Alex Pantling/Getty ImagesCredit: Alex Pantling/Getty Images
Credit: Alex Pantling/Getty Images | Alex Pantling/Getty Images
Only four players remain on course for 2024 Champion of Champions glory and the £150,000 top prize on Sunday evening as the semi-finals get underway in Bolton.

The opening final four fixture between Mark Allen and Xiao Guodong takes place on Friday night, while Mark Williams and Neil Robertson share the baize on Saturday evening. Both contests are scheduled to start at 7pm (19:00GMT).

Mark Allen v Xiao Guodong

Title holder Allen is aiming to become only the second player in Champion of Champions history to successfully retain the crown after Ronnie O'Sullivan's triumphs in 2013 and 2014.

It has been a bit of a frustrating season for Allen, so far, with this being his second semi-final appearance of the campaign. It comes in an environment he thrives in having won the Champion of Champions twice before and been in the final a further time. If you include this year's appearance, Allen has won his 'group' and made at least the semi-finals of this tournament seven times out of the last eight.

Allen got here this year by denying World Seniors Snooker Champion Igor Figueiredo 4-2 - breaking free from 2-2 - before several hours later recovering from 3-0 down, winning six of the next seven frames to defeat Crucible finalist Jak Jones 6-4.

Recently crowned Wuhan Open Champion and new top 16 star Xiao is enjoying the best spell of his professional career, to date, and he is now having a maiden Champion of Champions outing to remember following his heroics during Thursday's action in Lancashire.

Debutant Xiao didn't score a single point across the opening three frames of his round one match with Ronnie O'Sullivan, but the Chinese cueist incredibly strung together the next four frames in-a-row for a 4-3 comeback win to stun the seven-time World Champion and dish out O'Sullivan's first-ever loss at the opening hurdle of the Champion of Champions.

Later in the day, Xiao was at it again against another one of the sport's all-time greats as he turned round a 4-1 deficit to oust Mark Selby, 6-5.

In terms of career head-to-head meetings, if you remove their first professional encounter which came at the one-frame Snooker Shoot Out, Allen and Xiao are tied at 3-3. However, they have already played each other three times in this 2024/25 season, with those fixtures coming at the last 32 stage of big-money ranking events in Asia.

Allen won 5-2 at the Xi'an Grand Prix, but Xiao got the decision at both the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters (5-1) and last week at the International Championship (6-2).

Looking at this competition's century count before the last four, Allen has three tons to Xiao's two.

Mark Williams v Neil Robertson

Two of the greatest snooker players of all-time cross cues in the second semi-final on Saturday night, although one of them is in unchartered territory when it comes to this particular tournament.

Neil Robertson missed out on Champion of Champions qualification for the first time in his career last year, and he is determined to make up for it.

A two-time winner of the title - and a three-time finalist overall - Robertson has now won his Champion of Champions 'group' six times in 11 appearances.

In stark contrast, Mark Williams is only featuring in this event for a fourth time, and prior to his efforts on Tuesday, he had never won a match at the Champion of Champions.

Williams saw off World Women's Snooker Champion Bai Yulu, 4-1, in round one before finally registering a big stage match victory over Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals. The match of the competition so far, both players made a brace of century breaks, but it was Williams who squeezed through a 6-5 winner. Williams currently holds (at the time of writing) the event's highest break with a 140.

Robertson had to show mental stamina when he emerged from Wednesday's group, playing 17 out of a possible maximum of 18 frames within just several hours, shading Ali Carter 4-3 before edging out world number one Judd Trump 6-4 on the final black in a match that turned into a gruelling affair which finished not long before midnight.

In terms of their career head-to-head record, Robertson holds a very strong lead. If you exclude Premier League and Championship League fixtures, the Australian is 13-3 up and he has won their seven most recent encounters. However, this is the first time they have met on the professional circuit in any capacity in nearly two years.

They previously faced each other here at the 2021 Champion of Champions when Robertson scored a 4-2 victory in round one.

For full details on the 2024 Champion of Champions, including the draw, results, prize money breakdown, format and how to watch, please visit our tournament information centre here.

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.

Register
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice