We have three Chinese players in the semi-finals of the 2024 Scottish Open. Two of the, Wu Yize and Lei Peifan, are only 21 years old The two other semi-finalists are experienced campaigners: Mark Allen and Xiao Guodong. Here is how we got there as reported by WST.

WU AND XIAO SET FOR SEMI-FINAL

Wu Yize battled to reach his fourth ranking event semi-final, prevailing 5-4 against world number 16 Chris Wakelin at the BetVictor Scottish Open in Edinburgh.

Victory for talented 21-year-old Wu moves him within two games of grasping maiden ranking event glory.

The Chinese star was named Rookie of the Year, after a fine breakthrough season in 2022. Since then, he’s continued to demonstrate his considerable potential.

Earlier this season Wu went on a run to the BetVictor English Open final, which included a win over Judd Trump, before a nerve shredding 9-7 loss to Neil Robertson.

Wu, who plays compatriot Xiao Guodong in the semis, now knows that he is two wins away from a maiden ranking title and the Stephen Hendry Trophy.

Winning the event will move him above Robertson in the BetVictor Series standings ahead of the finale at the Welsh Open. The prize money leader in the series will scoop a £150,000 bonus.

Defeat for Wakelin ends another deep run in a season which has seen him make the top 16 in the Johnstone’s Paint World Rankings for the first time in his career. As a result, he can look ahead to a Johnstone’s Paint Masters debut at Alexandra Palace in January.

The opening stages of the match saw Wakelin take charge, breaks of 107 and 51 gave him a 2-0 advantage. However, Wu replied by claiming the third and fourth with runs of 82 and 72 to draw level at 2-2.

Wakelin regained the advantage by winning the fifth, but it was Wu who took two on the bounce to move to the verge of victory at 4-3.

A gutsy contribution of 103 from Wakelin forced a decider, where he had an opportunity to win before missing a red to the middle. Wu stepped up and ruthlessly fired in 66 to seal victory.

Wu said: “I’m quite satisfied with my form. Last night, before the match, I watched some of my games from last year. I feel that I’ve improved in many aspects overall, and that’s something that makes me really happy.

“In the first frame, my cue tip had some issues and even miscued. Fortunately, my dad was with me, as I don’t know how to fix a tip myself. After the second frame, I asked him to help adjust it.

“I often see online that Edinburgh is described as a very romantic city. I visited here in 2021 and spent two or three days exploring. This is my first time competing in Edinburgh and everything feels amazing. My focus now is to give my best performance in the tournament and after it’s over, I plan to take my dad on a little tour around the city.”

On the other table, Xiao scored a 5-1 defeat of 2023 World Champion Luca Brecel to book his spot in the last four. 

It’s been a landmark season for Xiao, who won his maiden ranking title at the Wuhan Open and was runner-up at the invitational Champion of Champions. 

Defeat for Brecel ends an important run, which has gone a long way towards staving off the very real threat of dropping out of the world’s top 64, when the points for his 2023 Crucible victory drop off at the end of the season. 

The opening stages of this afternoon’s encounter were truncated, with Xiao moving 2-1 ahead after winning a 50-minute third frame. He then clicked into gear, with breaks of 106 and 81 on his way to crossing the line after five frames in a row.

The Wu vs Wakelin match was a very enjoyable high quality affair, the kind of match that make you think “It’s a shame there had to be a loser“. Wu still has that freedom and freshness of the very young. He’s blessed with a huge talent and an excellent temperament … it’s a deadly combo! Wu was interviewed on ES after the match … in English. His command of the language is still basic but he went through that interview with a smile. All credits to him. The British players, and the Brits and Americans in general, usually only speak English and find it “normal” that every one else speaks it as well. It’s not, it takes an effort, especially when your native language is completely different in its etymology, structure, grammar and uses a different alphabet. It always infuriates me when, here on my Greek island, I witness tourists¹ being rude to waiters, hotel/restaurant staff and shopkeepers because their command of English isn’t perfect. Their own command of Greek is usually zero.

In the second match of the afternoon, Xiao Guodong played well too. I will refrain to write what I think of Brecel’s “performance”.

PISTOL FIRES PAST SAENGKHAM TO MAKE SEMIS

Mark Allen is through to the 41^st ranking event semi-final of his career after defeating Noppon Saengkham 5-2 at the BetVictor Scottish Open in Edinburgh.

The Pistol has been searching for form in recent weeks, but was back to his fluent best this evening in a captivating clash against the always dangerous Saengkham.

Allen spent a brief period at the start of the campaign as world number one, but has subsequently slipped back down to fifth. His exploits this week will see him move to at least fourth and making the final would push him to world number three.

The Northern Irishman is aiming to win this event for a second time. He first lifted the Stephen Hendry Trophy back in 2018, when he beat Shaun Murphy 9-7 in the title match.

Defeat for Saengkham means he will have to wait for a maiden ranking crown. He came close last year in Edinburgh, when he lost to Gary Wilson in the final. However, once again it has been a positive week in the Scottish capital for the Thai.

A break of 87 gave Saengkham the opener this evening, before Allen turned up the heat with contributions of 87, 120 and 127 on his way to four on the bounce and a 4-1 lead.

Saengkham responded with a stunning 136 to close the gap, but the high quality encounter was finished off with 105 in the seventh from Allen to triumph 5-2. He now faces China’s Lei Peifan in the last four.

“I played well there and scored heavily. I can’t complain. I only missed one or two shots in the whole game so I can’t complain,” said 11-time ranking event winner Allen.

“I’m enjoying what I’ve been trying this week. Just getting on with it and going for my shots. The games in York and in the early part of this week I wasn’t enjoying things. I just thought I’d get on with it and see what happens. I couldn’t have felt worse than I did so nice to see some balls going in and I’m scoring pretty well.

“I am confident, but I’m not taking anything for granted. I need to keep performing the way I have so far. I’m going to be playing a tough opponent no matter who gets through.”

It was China’s Lei who prevailed in the other quarter-final, winning a tense decider with Tom Ford to come through 5-4.

Lei was competing in the last eight of a ranking event for the first time in his career, having already beaten the likes of Shaun Murphy and Stuart Bingham thus far.

The final frame came down to a safety exchange on the brown. Eventually Lei conjured a brilliant pot and held his nerve with a tough cut back blue to get himself into a maiden ranking semi-final.

I chose to watch table two. It was another good match and one where the “momentum” appeared to shift from one player to the other every odd frame. Tom was the heavier scorer, he had two big centuries in this match: a 136 and a 125. It was Lei however who came on top in most of the close more tactical frames. Given that Tom is old enough to be Lei’s father, you would expect the opposite … that said, tactical play has never been Tom’s favourite cup of tea.

1. Usually Americans, but sometimes Brits as well ↩︎