After crowds were shut out of arenas across the UK due to COVID, the 2022 Betfred World Snooker Championship is reaching the final stages at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Over 17 days, the best players in the world and any qualifiers good enough to progress through the qualifying stages, battle it out to attempt to reach the final of the most prestigious event in the sport’s calendar.
However, all qualifiers and any new faces have been crushed by the determination and skill of the hardened veterans of the game. Yan Bingtao reached the quarter final, and fought back from 6-2 down against ‘the Welsh potting machine’ Mark Williams, only to lose the match 13-11.
Williams is not the only familiar face in the closing stages of the tournament. Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins and Judd Trump are all playing this evening.
Bar Trump, the other 3 are referred to as “the class of ‘92”, as the Welshman, Englishman, and Scot all turned professional in the same year.
Higgins will have to face the formidable O’Sullivan, who comfortably beat Mark Allen 10-4 and Stephen Maguire 13-5. The Scot, who beat Jack Lisowski last night after it went to 11-11, after struggling to find form, said: “I don't think I deserved to win but my emotions are that I am delighted to be through." He will have his work cut out this evening, in the first session of the semi-final against ‘The Rocket’.
Meanwhile Trump is playing Williams this afternoon, in their first session. Excluding Williams’ tight match with Bingtao, both Williams and Sullivan have had comfortable wins throughout the tournament. However, Trump has struggled to find his usual blistering form, but seemed to show more promise during his confident victory over Stuart Bingham yesterday, where he won 8 frames in a row, after being 8-5 down, to conquer the 2015 World Champion with an impressive score line of 13-8.
There has been even more drama to this year’s championship than usual. There were late-night dramas between Trump and Anthony McGill in the second round and between Higgins and Lisowski in the quarter-final. The Crucible was even invaded by a pigeon, which chose to strut along the cushion of one of the snooker tables.
There is a possibility that there could be a repeat of the 2019 final, between Higgins and Trump, if both players manage to find their top game and beat the two veterans.
All 4 semi-finalists are chasing another World title: Judd his second, Ronnie his seventh, Williams his fourth, and Higgins his fifth.
The final concludes on Monday 2nd May. It is sure to be a close one, whoever succeeds in clinching another of their World titles.
