On December 3, Beijing time, the semifinals of the 2023 ** Croatian British Championships were held, and there were three players in the semi-finals who had won the British Championships, they were O'Sullivan, who won the championship seven times, Ding Junhui won three championships and Trump won the championship once. O'Sullivan defeated Wafi 6-2 in the semifinals. The victory gave O'Sullivan a 4-1 lead in the head-to-head record against Wafai. Next, Trump will face Ding Junhui.
Previously, Trump defeated Selby 6-3, while Ding Junhui narrowly defeated Mark Williams 6-5 and successfully advanced to the semifinals. In the semi-final showdown, O'Sullivan and Wafei had a fierce battle. In the first four rounds, the score was tied at 2-2, and the two players each had a single-stroke performance of breaking 100, and the score remained very close. Although Wafei had scored 50+ in a single stroke many times before, he frequently made bizarre mistakes in the game and missed many opportunities to win.
In contrast, O'Sullivan's state seems to be more stable, and he has hit 6 consecutive single-stroke 50+ strokes to control the situation of the game. Trump performed well against Selby, winning the first game with a high score of 100 points in a single stroke, becoming his 50th stroke of the season and the 951st of his career. The victory also made him the fifth fighter to achieve 1,000 victories in his career.
In this year's British Championships, Ding Junhui's performance was also eye-catching, he won two games in a row in the duel with Mark Williams, and finally scored a single shot to break 100 victories and successfully advanced to the semifinals. As a result, he managed to regain his top-16 position and rise to 13th in the world rankings, which makes him expected to play again at the Masters next year. In the semifinals, Ding Junhui competed with Trump. The two players have played each other 17 times, and Ding Junhui is slightly inferior with 8 wins and 9 losses.
In this competition, Trump won with a single stroke of 124 points, and then Ding Junhui also scored 117 points with a single stroke, and the score was stalemate to 4-4. In the end, Ding Junhui scored 88 points in a single stroke to win, defeated Trump 6-4, and successfully advanced to the finals. In the final, O'Sullivan will face Ding Junhui or Trump, which is also a highly anticipated matchup. Regardless of the outcome, this race will be a great event for the sport. It is also worth looking forward to Ding Junhui's successful return to the Masters and will return to this top tournament next year.
In such a challenging competition, every fighter is trying to prove his or her strength, and their wonderful performance will surely become the talk of the fans. Such a first-class gram-British championship has undoubtedly brought a wonderful competition to the majority of first-class gram fans, and also allowed fans around the world to witness the charm of this sport. I hope that this competition can also become a historic moment for the sport, so that more people pay attention to and love this sport.