2024 Scottish Open Snooker Semi-Finals: Preview, matches, schedule

It has been another unpredictable week of Home Nations Series action with 2018 champion Mark Allen the only top 16 player remaining at this last four stage. A top prize of £100,000 and The Stephen Hendry Trophy are set to be won on Sunday evening.

13:00GMT: Wu Yize v Xiao Guodong

The opening semi-final pitches together two Chinese compatriots who are enjoying the best seasons of their careers, so far.

For the second successive weekend, Wu will be competing in a ranking event semi-final following his deep run at the Shoot Out several days ago. The 21-year-old reached his maiden ranking event final in the first Home Nations event of this season at the English Open.

This week at the Meadowbank Sports Centre, Wu has eliminated top 16 opponents in his last two assignments, ousting Barry Hawkins 4-3 in the last 16 and Chris Wakelin 5-4 in the last eight.

It has been a major breakthrough term for 35-year-old Xiao, who has now already trebled his previous best seasonal earnings with this season's efforts - and we're only in December. Including this tournament, Wuhan Open champion Xiao has made at least the semi-finals of four of the last seven events on the World Snooker Tour.

Three of his victories this week have seen him relinquish just one frame. In the last 32, he pipped Jak Jones, 4-3.

This will be the first time that Wu and Xiao have played each other on the professional circuit.

19:00GMT: Lei Peifan v Mark Allen

The world number 84 playing in his first ranking event semi-final faces the world number five who is taking part in his 41st.

China's Lei Peifan has twice broken new personal ground in this tournament, in what has been a very positive season, so far.

This is 21-year-old Lei's comeback campaign on the pro tour having previously been relegated from it in 2023. He reached the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time at the Northern Ireland Open a couple of months ago, and here this week he has made it to his first quarter-final, and now semi-final.

Lei has already won six matches in reaching this stage having started out in the very first round. In four of those ties he came through a deciding frame, including his three most recent fixtures where he has denied Shaun Murphy, Stuart Bingham and Tom Ford. The youngster is now guaranteed the biggest single payday of his career (at the time of writing).

In conventional snooker (excluding the timed, one-frame Snooker Shoot Out), Allen has now made the semi-finals of the last three events on the tour, but he is aiming to get into his first final since the Players Championship in February (which he won). Allen has lost five semi-finals since then.

Former world number one Allen has produced some sparkling snooker this week in the Scottish capital city, registering eight century breaks across his four matches as well as several other valuable contributions.

Somewhat bizarrely, just like the first semi-final, these two contestants have never played each other before on the sport's top tier.

Both semi-finals are the best of 11 frames with a scheduled mid-session interval after the fourth frame.

For full information on the 2024 Scottish Open, including the draw, results, format, prize money and how to watch on TV, please visit our tournament information centre here.